Hard fur

Fur producers are trying to overcome the crisis

The Russian fur industry, which never managed to get back on its feet in recent “fat” years, is now counting the losses incurred during the new economic crisis. The drop in sales on the fur market ranges from 30 to 40% - these figures apply equally to both Western and Russian producers. Last December, shortly after the crisis began, a fur auction was held, where Russian producers managed to sell only 10% of their products.

The Soviet indicators of the fur industry, when about 4 million Russian mink skins were sold at international auctions, and London had its own auction, seem unattainable today. Now 500 thousand skins is the maximum with which Russia enters the world fur market. Only three dozen fur farms out of the 250 that existed before the collapse of the Union survived throughout the country. The National Association of Fur Breeders of Russia, which unites 27 fur farms, represents their interests in the Ministry of Agriculture as an industry.

The other day, members of the Association of Fur Breeders at the next congress shared with each other their experience of working in crisis conditions. Somewhere they are trying to save on energy and labor costs, somewhere they are switching to independent feed procurement (the latter saves up to 30% of the price of feed). There are farms where they are forced to reduce their livestock for a while. One day, the congress participants visited the Melkovskoye animal farm in the Tver region - they found methods for effective work even in crisis conditions. Ten years ago, Melkovskoye was declared bankrupt and sold at public auction. Within five years, the enterprise became profitable thanks to an unconventional strategy - they decided to carry out a kind of “full cycle”, creating their own sewing production. We started with hats, soon began to sew fur coats, and opened our own store. The proximity of the Moscow-Petersburg highway ensured proximity to the client. Now 50% of the skins grown in Melkovo are used for our own tailoring. If the price of a tanned skin alone is 70 rubles, then it costs 200 rubles in a fur product. In times of crisis, “Melkovskoe” survives on its fur coats—the production of only furs has become unprofitable. Last year, 884 fur coats were sold in a rural store attached to a fur farm; now Melkovskoye plans to open a fur store in Moscow. But this experience is the exception rather than the rule.

According to the executive director of the association, Nadezhda Zubkova, fur production is not on the list of priorities in the queue for government subsidies. However, the fur farming industry no longer expects financial support from the state so much as legislative and organizational support. In the near future, an industry program will be developed, which the association will submit to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Today, fur farms are scattered independent farms that alone grow, often tan and sell the skins themselves (while the only task of the farm has always been to produce skins). As a result, there is almost nothing to show on the world market. The President of the Russian Fur Union, Sergei Stolbov, at the congress of the Association of Fur Breeders called the catalog of Russian products at the Finnish auction “shameful”, and the Russian mink as a common noun: “Russian mink is a cheap mink.” In his opinion, the main problem of the Russian fur producer is not the quality of the pelt (it is high and comparable to Western goods), but the lack of a mechanism for the sale, monitoring and promotion of products, the lack of necessary information for the processor, the meager assortment (especially, adds one of the congress participants, and “we sew no worse than in Greece or Italy”). If 8-10 thousand samples are presented at the stands of Western manufacturers, then at domestic sites there are only 300 skins.

One of the association's tasks is to bring products to a single standard. The size of mink produced in Russia differs from the accepted standards in the West, and the processor needs to adapt, change sewing technology, which he is not ready for. Russian fur farmers have not yet received a European JSC certificate, which requires re-equipping farms and adjusting production technologies.

But the main problem of Russian fur farmers is the import of smuggled fur. According to the latest data, 40-45% of fur products came to Russia without paying duties. For producers, lowering the prices for their furs to the level of smuggled fur means working at a loss.

Alexander DAVYDOV