KARAKUL prices have recovered well and the industry is now exporting close to 120 000 pelts every year, says the Chief Executive Officer of Agra, Peter Kazmaier.
He said the average price per pelt stood at N$98 in 1997, but at the most recent auction it reached N$422. “We have built up a very good and cordial relationship with our auction house, Copenhagen Fur in Denmark,” said Kazmaier.Swakara pelts are sorted and valued at the Agra Pelt Centre before being sent to the international fur auction in Copenhagen, Denmark.Kazmaier said they were confident that the Swakara brand and the top quality of Namibia’s pelts would ensure a steady increase in the demand for karakul pelts in the future.Kazmaier was briefing Agriculture Minister John Mutorwa during his first visit to the Agra Pelt Centre on Thursday.At the Pelt Centre, pelts are sorted according to colour, hair length, curl development and quality before they are sent to the two annual fur auctions in Copenhagen.Agra also has been training new pelt sorters at the centre.”It is an ongoing learning process and we are glad that we have found candidates who are committed and enthusiastic about becoming pelt sorters,” said Kazmaier.During its most productive years in the 1970s, the Namibian karakul industry produced over three million pelts annually, which were sold at auctions in England and Germany.But as anti-fur activists and lobby groups stepped up their campaigns, the demand and with it the prices for karakul decreased over a period of years to its lowest figures in 1997, when only 57 000 pelts were exported in a year.Kazmaier said Agra took a strategic decision to continue supporting the karakul industry even though it was not profitable in those years.Mutorwa said he was impressed by the work of the Agra Pelt Centre and they were doing a good job marketing Namibian products internationally.”We have built up a very good and cordial relationship with our auction house, Copenhagen Fur in Denmark,” said Kazmaier.Swakara pelts are sorted and valued at the Agra Pelt Centre before being sent to the international fur auction in Copenhagen, Denmark.Kazmaier said they were confident that the Swakara brand and the top quality of Namibia’s pelts would ensure a steady increase in the demand for karakul pelts in the future.Kazmaier was briefing Agriculture Minister John Mutorwa during his first visit to the Agra Pelt Centre on Thursday.At the Pelt Centre, pelts are sorted according to colour, hair length, curl development and quality before they are sent to the two annual fur auctions in Copenhagen.Agra also has been training new pelt sorters at the centre.”It is an ongoing learning process and we are glad that we have found candidates who are committed and enthusiastic about becoming pelt sorters,” said Kazmaier.During its most productive years in the 1970s, the Namibian karakul industry produced over three million pelts annually, which were sold at auctions in England and Germany.But as anti-fur activists and lobby groups stepped up their campaigns, the demand and with it the prices for karakul decreased over a period of years to its lowest figures in 1997, when only 57 000 pelts were exported in a year.Kazmaier said Agra took a strategic decision to continue supporting the karakul industry even though it was not profitable in those years.Mutorwa said he was impressed by the work of the Agra Pelt Centre and they were doing a good job marketing Namibian products internationally.
