Windhoek
Agra sold 100 percent of its Swakara offering at the Kopenhagen Fur pelt auction held in Copenhagen, Denmark on Saturday, September 10.
The average price of N$466.25 is a decrease of 4 percent on the N$485.96 achieved at the April auction and is mainly due to a less supportive exchange rate, it is understood.
The pelt offer consisted of 30 702 black, 9 334 white, 3 137 grey, 631 brown, 2 117 spotted and 505 diverse pelts. The top lot for white Swakara achieved N$1 823.81 for a lot of 50 KF selected extra pelts, which was purchased by Etherion Furs from Kastoria, Greece.
The highest price for black pelts was N$1 780.38 for a lot of 68 O light selected extra pelts, paid for by Katharina Hasse from Russia.
The pelt offer was bought by 27 buyers with other prospective buyers bidding, but not being successful.
Buyers from Denmark bought the most pelts, followed by buyers from Greece, with agents from England in third place.
The biggest buyer of Swakara was the company Morisco from Denmark, which purchased 13 203 pelts. More Chinese customers were also visible at the inspection and auction and 2 110 pelts for China were bought through agents.
Agra CEO Arnold Klein, who attended the auction, noted that Swakara remains a high-end luxury product.
“As evident from the auction house, white pelts were still in demand, but at lower prices for the top pelts. However, the prices of black and spotted pelts increased slighty,” he explained.
On the auction results, Klein said: “Swakara perfomed well, considering that the overall fur market situation is still very difficult due to the global economic challenges experienced by Russia, Greece and China.”
The top Namibian producer with more than 250 pelts at the auction was Karasberge Karakoel Stoet Wit, which achieved an average price of N$856.04 for 304 pelts. The top South African producer was LJ Kotze from Groblershoop, who sold 574 pelts at an average of price of R606.74.