Demand heats up in coldest winter
By Wang Wen and Cui Xiaohuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-21 09:59
 |
Large Medium Small |
Wang Zhongyuan bought a 10,000-yuan black beaver coat in October and the 25-year-old is now looking around Beijing's shopping malls for another one for her mother.
"We are from Northeast China where we are used to wearing fur coats in the winter," Wang said.
With this winter being the coldest for 40 years, Wang said she has been constantly wearing her fur in the capital.
Clothing companies said they have noticed a spike in the interest in fur.
"Fur coats are selling very well this winter and are often out of stock, which never happened before in Beijing," said Fan Yanni, senior media manger of NE.Tiger, a clothing company that designs and sells fur coats.
NE. Tiger opened its third store in January in Cuiwei Plaza. Targeting high-end consumers, its fur coats are priced between 10,000 and 400,000 yuan.
Because of the rise in demand, the price of both raw materials and finished coats have been going up throughout the city.
The price of raw materials rose by 30 percent and the price of fur coats went up accordingly, said Wang Ye, secretary-general of the China Fur and Leather Products Fair.
And the fur market on Yabao Road has noticed the changes.
"The price of raw materials rose by 30 percent to about 20,000 yuan," said a shop owner, surnamed Hao, who has sold fur materials for four years on Yabao Road.
Hao, who sells mink at 300 yuan per pelt, said demand in Beijing is strong but many customers buying goods on Yabao Road were Russian and their business had dropped drastically because of the unusually warm Russian winter.
"Business now overall is about half of what it was at the peak," said Zhou Cuifang, another shop owner on Yabao Road.
She said she had only sold one fur coat in two days and noted that about 60 percent of the stores had closed.
Artificial fur coats have also been going up in price.
A coat that sold for between 300 and 400 yuan last year at zoo wholesales market would cost more than 600 yuan now.
China's fur business is expected to pick up 20 percent this year, said Wang.
The fur industry has suffered from the economic recession in the past two years.
However, the industry has fared well since late 2009, due to the exceptionally harsh winter, he said, predicting the trend will continue in 2010.