Denmark’s fur exporters are reeling under the government’s decisions to kill 17 million farmed mink after COVID-19 outbreak at hundreds of farms led to the discovery of a new strain of Coronavirus in the mammals. As per the International Fur Federation, the government’s decision has caused a 30 per cent rise in mink pelts prices, of which Denmark was the top exporter. Now, exporters are looking to Finland, which will soon offer one million mink and 250,000 fox pelts for sale in Korea, China, the United States and elsewhere. The pelts will be sold at the Auction house Saga Furs from December15.

The sales program will offer mink fur from both Europe and North America, such as ‘Pearl Velvet’ and ‘Silverblue Velvet’ mink, in addition to ‘Silver Fox’, “White Finnraccoon” and Russian sable. Saga Furs expects 100 per cent sales compared to the 55 per cent take-up so far in 2020 as a result of the Coronavirus crisis. Fur demand has been falling since the 1950s, except for a rise between 2000 and 2013 when it was popular on fashion runways and Chinese appetite for luxury pelts boomed, Lise Skov, an academic who researched the Danish fur industry, said.

A typical mink pelt sold for more than $90 at auction in 2013, while last year skins fetched around $30. This was despite a fall in global production to just under 60 million pelts last year, from more than 80 million in 2014.