Finland beats China in quality of fur farms

Fur producers: Ethical demands are high

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Finland’s fur raising business has come out ahead of China’s fur industry in the quality of fox furs.
      Producers in Finland have been concerned about competition from China. However, production in that country has collapsed, which has led to more marketing space for Finnish fur growers. Mistakes made by the biggest competitor have led to a sharp increase in fur prices.
      Pertti Fallenius, chairman of Finnish Fur Sales says that the annual output of China’s fox fur farms has collapsed from eight million pelts a year to just two million. Finnish annual output is a couple of million pelts a year.
     
Finnish Fur Sales is a publicly listed company which supplies pelts raised on Finnish fur farms to the clothing industry. The main owners of the company are farmers in the Ostrobothnia region. Fur farming employs 20,000 Finns both directly and indirectly.
      China is the main buyer of Finnish fox furs, where the pelts are turned into clothing for export around the world. Chinese customers tend to trust Finnish furs more than their own.
      “China challenged our business at the beginning of the decade, and started to increase its production of raw materials. This led to seven years of overproduction, which pushed the prices of pelts down to the pain threshold. Production has not been very profitable”, Fallenius says.
      “In this field, skill and high quality are the deciding factors. European production remains more competitive, even though the cost of labour is higher here.”
      At the autumn fur auction, the price of blue fox rose by nearly a third.
      “One auction is not yet decisive, and we need the price rise to continue. Now the prerequisites appear to be good.”
     
Foxes and mink are sensitive animals.
      “They need to be well taken care of for their fur to be of good quality. We give the animals high-quality feed.”
      Foxes eat fish by-products, soybeans, and feed grain. The animals are grown for a year after which they are killed and skinned.
      Fallenius says that the main motive of the Chinese is to earn money and save in production costs.
      “They underestimate the amount of knowledge that raising fur requires. It is more than just harvesting.”
      He does not believe that the Chinese growers will be able to correct their mistakes any time soon.
      “Today, ethical and technical quality demands are high. We know how difficult it is. Our competitive edge cannot be taken away very quickly.
     
European fur buyers have recently focussed attention on ethical questions - mainly the concerns of animal welfare. To this end, the business has developed a certificate to inform buyers about the origin of the product. The system is enforced by outside inspectors.
      Certification has become more widespread in other “sensitive” areas, such as the production of wood and palm oil.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish fur producers fear that fur farming may no longer be profitable (21.1.2009)
  Understated furs most popular (17.11.2006)

Links:
  Finnish Fur Sales

Helsingin Sanomat