Silver lining for Swakara industryChairperson of the Swakara Board of Namibia says there are still challenges facing the industry. Economic challenges addressed at forum The Swakara (Karakul) Board of Namibia last week hosted its annual Industry Forum to discuss developments and activities in the sector. The forum was well attended with 70 Swakara producers and researchers.
Chairperson of the Swakara Board of Namibia, Raimar von Hase said that the international fur industry is still troubled.
“The turmoil in the international fur industry has calmed down to a certain extent but some problematic features still remain,” he said.
He explained that the challenges experienced by Swakara can be attributed to the overhang of unsold and stored mink pelts on the international markets, the Russian economy – which is still depressed due to continued low oil prices and sanctions because of turmoil in Ukraine.
According to him, the financial troubles experienced by Russia, the second biggest fur consuming country in the world also pose a negative impact to the Swakara buyers from Greece, as they are big fur manufacturing exporters to Russia.
“Furthermore, the Chinese economy grows slower and certain measures taken by the Chinese government against tax evasion and corruption, as well as the introduction of a luxury goods tax, has reduced the sales of fur garments in China.”
However, Von Hase said that there is light at the end of the tunnel. “There are clearly visible silver linings on the dark clouds, because, mink production has come down from about 90 million to about 40 million pelts per year. The financial position of Greece has stabilised and for the first time in history, a delegation of Chinese fur business people has visited Namibia and in April 2016, we saw a slight rise in Swakara pelt prices.”
He said that this tendency is expected to continue and prices are to improve further in 2017/2018.
He also assured those in attendance that fur and fur garments remain highly fashionable on the international catwalks with most of the well-known fashion designers.
The forum was also attended by Dr Farai Muchadeyi, Senior Manager of Research at the Agriculture Research Council – Biotechnology Platform in South Africa.
Muchadeyi is conducting a study on: “Investigating population genetic structure and genomic differences between Swakara sub-populations: Towards identification of causal mutations and development of markers for sub-vitality traits in white pelt production.”
This project is partly funded by Swakara Producers Fund, through the Swakara Breeders’ Society.
Providing feedback on the study Muchadeyi said that the breeding of white Swakara sheep in this region is hampered by the occurrence of sub-vitality effects. “This is whereby sheep that are genetically pure for the white colour have a short lifespan and low or no reproduction,” he said.
She continued to say that the aim is to build genomic resources that would help in the management of sub-vitality career animals and facilitate Marker Assisted Selection in the production of white pelt from Swakara sheep. The preliminary results indicate that Swakara sheep have clearly diverged from other Karakul and there is inbreeding evident in the population. The research will continue in an effort to find amicable solutions.
Bernd Rothkegel, a co-opt Swakara board member discussed the code of practice, standards and rules, while Tobie le Roux, the manager of the Swakara Breeders’ Society gave feedback on training and research. The forum was concluded with nominations of producers representing both communal and commercial farming areas to serve on the Swakara Board, for the period 2017 to 2020.
The top ten producers, including the best and second best producer were awarded with prizes sponsored by Agra.
The Danie Visser Trust was awarded as the best producer for 2016, while Piet Steenkamp was named as the second best producer.
The Karasberge Karakoel Stoet Wit scooped the Kopenhagen Fur / Agra Limited Merit Award, which grants a sponsored trip to a Swakara auction in Denmark next year.
The “Golden Lamb” was awarded to Dirk Louw and Retief von Wielligh respectively. The Golden Lamb is awarded to persons or institutions with outstanding dedication and contributions to the Swakara Industry.
STAFF REPORTER