WINDHOEK – Namibia’s famous Swakara pelts recorded another record price at the April pelt auction in Copenhagen, Denmark. The auction, which took place on Thursday last week, registered the highest price of N$2 405.60 per pelt.
Lovedale Farming from Helmeringhausen was the Namibian producer that sold the most pelts, selling 364 pelts at an average price of N$864.09, according to information obtained from the public non-listed Namibian agricultural company, Agra, which facilitates Namibian participation in the Copenhagen auction.
A total of 64 462 Swakara pelts were sold at the auction last Thursday evening of 68 500 pelts on offer. Athanasios Konstantinou, from Kastoria, Greece, was the buyer who paid the highest price for the white Swakara pelt.
The average price was N$566.87 per pelt, a decrease of 12.37 percent on the N$646.88 achieved at the September 2013 auction. The pelts sold consisted of 48 855 black, 14 030 white and 1 577 diverse pelts.
The company that bought the largest pelts in quantity was also from Greece. The Greece based Bourtsos purchased 11 339 Swakara pelts, although agents from Italy and England did dominate the Thursday auction bidding.
The market was not that responsive to fur skins with sales below expectations. The low volumes are attributed to warm winters in Russia and China as well as uncertainty over the ongoing political unrest in Ukraine.
Attending the Thursday auction were the Permanent Secretary of Trade and Industry Dr Malan Lindeque, the Permanent Secretary of f Agriculture, Water and Forestry, Joseph Iita, and winner of the 2013 Swakara Namibian Young Designer Awards, Nikola Conradie.
By Deon Schlechter