Greek Fur Exports Increase in China

Greek fur exports to China, and Hong Kong in particular, have been increasing at a tremendous rate over the last years. According to reports from the Greek Embassy in Beijing by Secretary of Economic and Commercial Affairs Dimitrios Thomopoulos, Greek exports for 2012 amounted to 10.87 million dollars (for Hong Kong data Jan.-Oct.) against 8,335,93 dollars for 2011 and 5,213,574 dollars for 2010, while Greek imports amounted to 9.45 million dollars. Note that Greek exports are mainly fur clothing and dressed fur skins, while imports are fur clothing.

However, the Embassy notes the need to safeguard the trademark and the brand name of the Greek Company before it enters the Chinese market, as counterfeit and malicious trademark safeguarding for the extortion of money, or to prevent access to the local market, is a common phenomenon.

Fur traders and producers can visit the website of the Trademark Office of the People’s Republic of China at http://sbcx.saic.gov.cn/trade-e, to detect any trademark application filing. For more information, businessmen can consult the business guide of the Office of Economic and Commercial Affairs of the Greek Embassy at agora.mfa.gr/cn89.

China mainly imports raw fur skins from Denmark, Finland, Spain, Canada and the U.S.A. The main imported species are rabbit, mink and fox. The exports of the People’s Republic of China decreased by 25% to 3,052 billion dollars in 2012, mainly due to the reduction of exports of raw skins to very low levels.

The main destinations for Chinese fur clothing is Russia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Turkey and the U.S.A.