2015 SWAKARA AUCTION RESULTS 
Published: 22 Apr 2015

93 percent of the Swakara offering was sold at the April pelt auction in Denmark. Of the total offer of 60 910 Swakara pelts, 56 693 were sold at this auction on 18 April 2015. The average price of N$ 461.74 (DKK 266.72) represents a decrease of 17.76% in Namibian Dollar terms (in Danish Krone (DKK), a decrease of 9.7%) on the N$ 561.47 (DKK 295.35) achieved at the September 2014 auction. The pelts sold consisted of 42 350 black, 10 406 white, 2 648 spotted and 1 289 diverse pelts. 

The highest price achieved for white Swakara was N$ 1 991 (DKK 1 150) for a lot of 48 KF Selected Extra pelts and for black N$ 1 904 (DKK 1 100) for a lot of 100 O Light Selected Extra pelts both bought by Mr Athanasios Konstantinou of Kastoria Greece. 

The pelt offer was bought by 25 buyers. Mr Thomas Rebild from Denmark was again the single biggest buyer of the Swakara pelt offering, purchasing 12 391 pelts. Collectively buyers from Italy bought the most pelts, amounting to 22 818 pelts. They were followed by Denmark in the second place with the agents from England third. 


International Fur Fashion sales were under pressure currently, therefore skin sales at recent fairs were not good which left the skin dealers with high stock reserves, which consist mostly of the more expensive goods. Swakara pelts are still mainly used for Russian fur fashion markets. The low value of the Russia Roebel and the uncertainty of the Russia geopolitical situation are the main reasons for Swakara “not sold” pelts. This resulted in the small quantities (3 744 pelts in total) bought by our Greek clients, who traditionally manufacture for the Russian market. If Swakara skin sales are compared to those of Chincilla, which are also destined for a niche market, the drop from September 2014 compared to April 2015 was 12% with DKK700 the highest price bid for Chinchilla vs the DKK1150 paid for Swakara.

In an interview with Kopenhagen Fur, Ms Dagmar Honsbein, General Manager of Agra ProVision said the reason for the slightly lower prices is that some of the typical Swakara buyers were not present in the auction room. Buyers from the Russian market were absent. “This was expected, because the rouble has decreased in value, making our goods more expensive for the Russian market,” says Honsbein. This has prompted Agra ProVision to search for other markets, as well as consider diversified Swakara pelt production processes. She continued, “We are going to market our products broader and in addition to this, we are considering a different approach in Swakara designs.”

The top Namibian producer at this auction, was Lovedale Farming from Helmeringhausen who sold 308 pelts at an average of N$ 752.86 (DKK 434.88). The top South African producer was Willie Knoesen of Ashkam who achieved an average price of R 782.79 (DKK 452.17) for 304 pelts.