China and Russia are both major consumers in the international fur industry, and Russia has always been an important export destination for China’s fur raw materials and finished products.
“According to a survey by the Russian Fur Association, the total value of Russia’s fur imports from China reached US$2 billion in 2013, accounting for 65% of Russia’s total fur import value.” said C. Ctojiqob, chairman of the Russian Fur Association.
However, according to Deng Xiaolan, Honorary Chairman of the Asia Region of the International Fur Association, although the current fur trade between China and Russia is in a good situation, the trade pattern between the two parties still needs to be broken.
On January 15, the first China-Russia Fur Trade Forum was held. With the theme of “Current Situation and Way Out”, the meeting strived to point out the way out for the development of China-Russia fur trade in the context of slowing growth and fierce competition among peers.
The warm winter climate brings a “cold wave” to the market
As an important exporter of Chinese fur products, Russia’s market performance this year has been relatively “depressing”.
“As an important season for fur sales, in this autumn and winter, fur sales in Russia are not as optimistic as in previous years. As of January this year, the entire fur production industry in Russia has seen a 30% drop in output.” C.Ctojiqob said, resulting in Russia There are many reasons for the decline in fur production and sales, one of which is climate warming.
“The climate in Russia has been abnormally warm this year. From November to December last year, Russia experienced warm winter weather. This kind of weather has not happened in Russia for more than 100 years.” C.Ctojiqob said.
In addition, factors such as the decline in fur production in Russia are the decline in the prices of fur raw materials and fur products, as well as market saturation.
The fur sales situation in Russia is not as optimistic as in previous years. As of January this year, the output of Russia’s entire fur production industry has dropped by 30%. One of the important reasons is climate warming.
According to He Sucheng, president of Huasi Company, an important reason for the saturation of the Chinese and Russian fur markets lies in the asymmetry of market information.
“This asymmetry is the information asymmetry in the early stages of the mink breeding and processing industry chain.” He Sucheng said that starting in 2013, many people who used to do processing turned to farms because they discovered that breeding Minks are highly profitable. However, many people fail to see whether fur products sell well in the retail market. “He Sucheng said that many farmers are blindly optimistic about the market, which has led to excessive mink production and oversupply in the market.
At the same time, some unharmonious events also occurred in the Chinese and Russian fur markets last year.
According to Li Feng, the person in charge of Greenwood Trade Zone in Moscow, not long ago, in a trade zone where Chinese fur dealers in Russia were concentrated, Chinese business-operated shops were often closed down by Russian officials. As early as 2009, when the Cherkizovo market in Moscow was closed, a large number of Chinese fur goods were seized and seized.
Although there are indeed illegal operations among the Chinese merchants who were punished, the malicious seizure by Russian officials and the sluggish performance of the Russian fur market from last year to the present have made some Chinese fur merchants decide to “go back home.” . In the view of these Chinese businessmen, this may be the second dip of the financial crisis.
But according to Li Feng’s investigation, this is not always the case.
“With the increase in the income of Russian residents, more and more consumers are turning to large shopping malls and chain stores to buy fur clothing, instead of choosing the relatively low-priced fur market.” Li Feng said.
According to E. Echha, head of the design and manufacturing technology experiment at the Russian Fur Products Design Institute, this is not unrelated to the fur quality incidents that have occurred frequently in the Russian market this year.
“After sampling and analyzing Russian fur imports in the past three years, our laboratory found that the quality of fur in the current market has shown a downward trend year by year.” E. Echha said that with the increase in consumers’ awareness of rights protection, it has led to Russia has experienced frequent consumer complaints in recent years.
Among the frequent quality incidents, most products are due to problems such as fake materials, insufficient color fastness, insufficient sewing strength, and clothing tears in shoulders, elbows and other parts.
As for the reason why the quality of imported fur products in the Russian market frequently deteriorates, E.Echha said that although there is fraud by some exporters, it is also related to the fierce competition in the Russian fur market in recent years. “Some Russian importers continue to lower sellers’ prices, resulting in a decline in the quality of fur products provided by sellers.”
Therefore, if Chinese fur export companies want to gain a foothold in the Russian market in the future, they must strictly control product quality.
Good products are “passports”
Although between the end of last year and the beginning of the year, due to Russia’s warm winter and some political factors, the Russian fur market experienced a certain decline. However, Dai Anping, senior vice president of marketing of the North American Fur Association, found after market research that as long as the quality of fur products is guaranteed and the price is reasonable, its annual sales volume in the Russian market will still be .Very good.
The latest “Global Fur Sales Market Report” provided by Dai Anping also shows that China and Russia are still the largest markets for each other’s trade.
With the increase in the income of Russian residents, more and more consumers are turning to large shopping malls and chain stores to buy fur clothing, instead of the relatively low-priced fur market.
According to Chinese customs data, China’s fur clothing manufacturing industry consumed 8 million furs in 2006. Russia is China’s largest export market, accounting for about 50% of China’s total exports. With the growth of regional markets such as Japan and South Korea in recent years, the share of the Russian Federation has gradually shrunk to 32%, but it is still China’s largest export market. In terms of imports, Russia also ranks at the top of China’s direct import list of mink fur and fox fur respectively.
Therefore, for Chinese companies, as long as they provide high-quality fur products, they still have great development potential in the Russian market in the future. At the same time, in addition to the Russian market, North America and other European markets also show huge market demand for high-quality fur products.
“Compared with the year before last, the sales of fur in the North American market increased significantly last year. Especially in some supermarkets and some specialty stores, the sales of fur clothing and accessories have increased. development trend.” Dai Anping said.
At the same time, in recent years, some well-known designers have begun to use fur materials in large quantities for design.
According to statistics from relevant organizations on the catwalks of the four major fashion weeks in autumn and winter 2013, fur has become a favorite of mainstream designers, with 70% of the shows using fur elements. At New York and London Fashion Weeks, two-thirds of the catwalks had fur elements; at Paris Fashion Week, 80% of designers used fur elements; and at Milan Fashion Week, the proportion was as high as 86%. Among them, 41 Fendi show styles all have fur elements.
“To make fur more popular, companies must respond to market demand in a timely manner and understand market information. Moreover, brands must pursue creativity in their products.” Dai Anping said.
To make fur products, you need to have design creativity. Where should companies start?
Fashion depends on the power of young design
“Nowadays, most consumers are increasingly pursuing style when buying fur.” Fashion designer H. Kpythkoba, who has won the Russian National Award, believes that if fur companies want to build a brand, they must first build their own style.
But H.Kpythkoba discovered that with the mass production of fur, an “interesting” phenomenon has appeared in the market: fur consumers around the world are wearing almost the same style of clothing.
One of the reasons for this phenomenon is that many fur manufacturers choose to copy styles designed by other brands in order to save design costs.
Another reason lies in the emergence of a large number of fur processing companies. Most of these companies are large-scale manufacturers of fur products. They are only responsible for the processing and not the design. They generally produce clothing according to several fixed styles and basically do not consider changes in market demand.
For the current development of China’s fur industry, a huge dilemma it faces is the lack of design talents.
In this regard, Zhang Qinghui, vice chairman of the China Fashion Designers Association, believes that if the fur industry wants to achieve better development, it must spend energy to cultivate some talented and young design forces. “Through the cultivation of design power, the entire fur field can be made more fashionable and more in line with the aesthetic needs of modern people.” Zhang Qinghui said.
Dai Anping also agreed with this. She said that although the design of fur should maintain the traditional characteristics, it should also make breakthroughs in the color, texture and cut of the fur. In this way, the current good design can also become the future ” Tradition”.
At the same time, Dai Anping believes that in order for fur to be fashionable in the future, it must rely on the power of young designers.
“I think fur already sounds like a very old-fashioned material. Therefore, if the industry can use younger designers instead of older designers, fur will be more popular with the world. Welcome.”
