Mink prices falling

He’s basing the forecast on trends in the marketplace over the past several months. Although local mink is auctioned either at the Seattle Fur Exchange or the North American Fur Company in Toronto, recent auctions in Helsinki and Copenhagen saw declining prices.

Now for the good news: pelts are auctioned in American dollars. Last February the exchange rate was close to par, but currently an American dollar is worth $1.21 Canadian.

“Another positive thing is that we’re having a hard winter, and we usually see a price increase when weather conditions are harsh,” says Prime. “Our pelts head to Russia and China. There are a lot of people in Russia and China—a lot of rich people.”

While rich people may not be craving Bay of Fundy lobster, they tend to crave mink coats in frigid weather. And Nova Scotia mink pelts are regarded as the best in the world, with quality that stems from breeding and feeding.

Nova Scotia breeding stock descends from black mink developed by Wallace and Edsel Mullen of Digby County. In 1965, the brothers announced that they had bred the world’s first strain of jet-black mink and the news brought them buyers from all over the world.

Nova Scotia mink consume a high protein diet comprised largely of fish by-products, which once went to waste. That diet contributes to coats that are dense, silky and resilient.

Mink breed once a year. Kits—an average of four or five per litter—are born in late April or early May.

Harvesting takes place in November. Local mink are pelted at a plant in Southville, and then move on to the auction houses.

At the February auctions, the annual income of local mink ranchers is determined in a matter of minutes.

Prime sees mink producing as one of the bright spots in the economy of southwestern Nova Scotia. “It’s a great business,” he says.

Prime has been in that business more that 25 years, and is now involved in three operations, including one with a son. He says those operations produce about 20,000 pelts per year.

Nova Scotia produces more than half of Canada’s mink—and 80 per cent of the province’s mink is raised in this region.

About 1.3 million pelts produced locally each year, and that number is expected to grow. Primes said there have been 10 or 11 new licenses issued in the past year.