Breeding value evaluation in polish fur animals: Factors affecting pelt prices in the international trading system

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the contribution of pelt character traits to the price the skins could reach at an auction house. The paper also presents an analysis of trends showing the changes in the contribution of pelt character traits to the pelt price over 4 seasons. 10 177 records of arctic fox pelts sold at the Helsinki Auction House in the seasons 2000-2004 were analysed. The pelts were graded and sorted according to their character traits: size, quality, colour clarity and colour darkness. The significance of the pelt character traits and their effects on the pelt price were tested using the GLM procedure and two linear models (Model 1 - without interactions between main effects, Model 2 - with interactions between main effects). The total variation of the pelt price was partitioned into components connected with random effects included in the models using the REML and VARCOMP procedure. Then, based on the estimated variance components, the percent contribution of each component to the total variation of the pelt price was calculated. It was found that, depending on the model and season, the pelt price was mostly influenced by skin size and quality, whereas colour type and colour clarity had small effects on the pelt price. However, the effect of the skin size on the pelt price in the analysed seasons decreased, whereas the effects of the remaining three traits on the pelt price slightly increased.