Soyuzpushnina

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Soyuzpushnina EEA

logo
legal form State Trading Company (EEA); stock corporation since May 1999
founding 1931
Seat Moscow , St. Petersburg
Branch Tobacco shop (fur trade)
Website http://www.sojuzpushnina.ru

The Sojuzpushnina ( Russian Союзпушнина , transcription Sojuspuschnina ) is a Russian fur trading company. For a long time, all fur skins exported by the Soviet Union had to run over the Sojuzpushnina. She is the only one to hold fur auctions in Russia, and for many years she was the largest fur supplier in the world. It was founded in 1931 as a foreign trade company of the Soviet Union and was a state trading company until 2003. Their predominant core business is the trade and export of fur skins . The company's main office is in Moscow, the Fur Palace auction house , now a branch, in St. Petersburg.

history

Eastern Russia to Siberia is particularly rich in fur animals. For the third to second century BC to the third century AD it is reported that sable skins were exported as "Scythian martens" from the Scythian Empire across the Black Sea . The conquest of Siberia is not least due to the desire to own the valuable sable hides. For some types of fur, Russia was or is the only supplier, such as sable, Russian feh or white polecat. Until the creation of the Soviet Union, the Russian world trade in fur took place essentially in such a way that the foreign fur traders visited the various Russian trading centers, such as the trade fairs in Irbit or Nizhny Novgorod , or even advanced to the fishing grounds in order to buy as cheaply as possible.

During the First World War the export of fur ceased completely. With the nationalization of the Russian economy, this private trade came to an end. From 1921 the Russian government began to force the export of fur, one of the few ways the country could get foreign currency at the time. In the early years of the Soviet Union, cooperatives and joint stock companies were involved in export trade, but they did not coordinate their activities. In Germany, the buyers complained about the "complete anarchy in the range" of Russian tobacco products. When the creation of a single auction company was discussed in 1926, in addition to Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg again), Vladivostok and Arkhangelsk were also considered.

To regulate and centralize the start-up, the state created the All-Union Furs Syndicate in January 1930, and on October 24, 1931 the EEA (External Economic Association) "Sojuzpushnina". When it was founded in 1931, the export of fur was handed over to a single, newly founded company (also known as Sojujawodpuschnina , Association of Fur Traders in 1937 ).

Part of the front of the "Fur Palace", the former auction building of Sojuzpushnina (2018)

The first auctions were held at historical sites of Leningrad in the absence of their own premises, including the St. Petersburg Hermitage , the Russian Museum , the Hotel Astoria , which was later used to host the company's banquets, and other halls in the city, since 1939 newly built fur palace . The auction language was initially German, from the 12th auction it was English. For the first time, not only the most important wholesalers, brokers and commission agents were represented at the 12th auction, but also producers and owners of fur shops who had previously been denied access. Fixed standards were created for the range of fur, compliance with which has since been regarded as reliable.

There was no significant export of fur clothing. The partly highly developed fur industry of Tsarist Russia had largely perished in the war and after the war. Only the amount of trimmed pelts increased steadily, so that the fur processing companies around Leipzig in 1931 saw this as one of the main reasons for their considerable decline in sales and the associated unemployment in the industry. In Leipzig it was estimated that by now over a hundred skilled workers had migrated to Russia to train other fur dressers and dyers there. As was the case before the First World War, the fur trading center of the Leipziger Brühl was again the most important stacking and transshipment point for Russian tobacco goods soon after the end of the war . At the March auction of 1929 alone, goods were sold there for 3.6 million marks, plus there were “huge sales” of the Leipzig trade agency in over-the-counter sales. Leipzig had the advantage over the second large European tobacco market, Garlick Hill in London, that the lower-quality fur types were also sold cheaply thanks to the significant fur-finishing industry that existed here . The so-called "Russian auctions" that took place in Leipzig had a decisive influence on the price movement and structure of the entire goods. The establishment of the Leningrad auctions was perceived as a threat by the two tobacco markets in Leipzig and London, but calls for boycotts were unsuccessful. In 1936, the sale of Soyuzpushnina outside of Russia was mainly handled through auctions in London. The proportion of fur sold in Russia itself had increased from 27.5 percent in 1933 to 86 percent in 1936.

Since 1932 an auction has been held in Leningrad twice a year, in March and August, and since 1935 the second, more needs-based, in June. The last auction before World War II , with one hundred buyers from nine countries, was in 1939. The first auction after the war was in July 1947; 90 participants from ten countries had come. The number of participants increased from year to year. The high point of "Leningrad auction history and probably also a high point of the fur trade" was the auction in January 1966, to which 336 participants from 24 countries came. For almost two decades there was only one auction a year, later three to four auctions were common.

The fur market, which was hectic at the time, calmed down again, and 146 visitors from 17 countries came to the 50th anniversary auction in October 1986. The Federal Republic of Germany had the largest share with 34 participants, followed by England with 31, Finland and Switzerland with 14 each and the USA with 12 participants. Other interested parties came from Australia, Belgium, the CSSR, Denmark, the GDR, France, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada, Austria and Sweden. At the anniversary auction, Jury Fränkel , who gave the celebratory speech, was honored as one of the two tobacco retailers who have attended all Leningrad auctions from the start. At the 200th anniversary auction of Sojuzpushnina in April 2016, Fränkel was thought of again posthumously: "His buyer number 99 was as legendary as he was". The first bid of the Persian auction went to the Frankfurt smokers' merchant Nachman Daitsch , "one of the most important and largest buyers of the Leningrad auctions". On the occasion of the anniversary in 1986, a fur fashion show was also shown. On this occasion, the trade press mentioned that no fur clothing made in Russia had yet been exported.

In May 1941, the Sojuzpushnina EEA was established as an extended fur organization, which is now receiving, sorting and cold storage rooms in Moscow included ( "Pushnoexport"), Astrakhan-breeding in Bukhara and Turkmenabat and fur bearing in Lyubertsy , Vologda , Kharkov , Rostov , Omsk , Novosibirsk , Krasnoyarsk and Vladivostok . With the approach of the German-Soviet War , the headquarters were moved from Leningrad to Vladivostok. Even during the war, the Sojuzpushnina contributed 40 percent to the foreign exchange income of the Soviet Union, the USA was the buyer of the skins.

Usually, the fur exporting countries also have a high demand for fur in their own country; in particular, the skins that are not produced domestically are often in demand. Russia was no exception. Before the First World War, Russian traders were very important buyers, also at the Leipzig trade fairs. During the Soviet Union, the Sojuzpushnina was not only responsible for exporting but also importing tobacco products. Because of the shortage of foreign exchange, this should have been only a fraction of the previous amount. According to the Russian information, before 1981 only ten percent of the pelts produced were exported, the rest was consumed in the country. For Persians, it was stated elsewhere that of the approximately 6.5 million karakul skins produced annually, 2 million were sold internationally.

The state trading company V / O Sojuzpushnina has dealt mainly with the export of fur from the Soviet Union since it was founded in 1931. About 70 to 80 percent of exports were sold through the Leningrad auctions. The entire foreign trade in tobacco products was carried out as a monopoly over the company. Not only was it one of the oldest Soviet foreign trade organizations, but it also had the most extensive foreign relations. In 1981, Sojuzpushnina maintained warehouses not only in the USSR, but also in London, Stockholm and West Berlin to handle global trade . In Leipzig, which was now occupied by the Soviets, the company had been operating again as Sojuspuschnina GmbH since 1948 . In 1960, the now annual Leipzig tobacco auction took place for the first time after the war. According to its statements, Sojuzpushnina had business relationships with more than 2,000 companies in 60 countries at the time. The skins were bought from over 6500 companies from all over the territory of the former Soviet Union. In September 2004 a Chinese branch was opened in Beijing.

In the 1960s to 1980s Sojuzpushnina was able to maintain its leading position on the world market. The 72nd auction in January 1976 was the largest event of its kind in the fur industry to date, with over 2.2 million skins of various types being offered and sold. Annual sales were $ 150 million. This great increase was made possible by the addition of skins from the heavily accelerated fur farming. As early as the early 1930s, Russia was a leader in research into keeping fur animals with the Moscow zoo farm in Pushkino .

At the world's largest fur fair in Frankfurt am Main in the second half of the 20th century, Sojuzpushnina regularly organized a model competition for designers, furriers and garment makers for the most successful fashionable implementation of Bukhara - Karakulfell , in which a “Golden Samovar” could be won as a trophy gave.

In May 1999, Sojuzpushnina was partially privatized when it was converted into a stock corporation. In November 2003 it finally went into private hands when the state surrendered its majority of shares. 4,800,134 registered shares owned by the state were auctioned for 1 ruble per share (58.3 percent of the authorized capital).

An assessment from 2001 established the major loss of importance of the Sojuzpushnina since then; sales had fallen to around 10 percent compared to 1990. The causes are manifold. On the one hand, it would have been misjudgments and the inaction of the former leadership. The fact that fur farms fell into disrepair with the onset of perestroika played an important role in this . Although the recovery was slow in 2001, a number of factors have hampered the development of the industry. Part of the problem was due to the fact that fur farming is a seasonal industry. The animals are bred from January to November, and the money from selling their skins does not come until December or January, and very few farms had enough equity to survive this dry spell. The Ministry of Agriculture had in the meantime developed a program to support fur farming, which “like most government programs is nowhere near perfect”. The fur industry also complained about the smuggling of skins on a large scale, which made the tax-honest businesses no longer competitive.

Alexey Plekhanov, who previously held the post of deputy director, was appointed director of Sojuzpushnina towards the end of 2018. As part of major changes within the company, Vitaly Ivanidi was appointed Director of AC Sojuzpushnina Ltd. towards the end of 2019 . appointed in St. Petersburg. The office moved within Moscow to 20/1 Podsosensky Pereulok, the Petersburg address remained the same. The auction company LLC RusPushnina in St. Petersburg, founded by the management of the former auction house Sojuzpushnina, is managed by the board members Arkadiy Revzin and Alexy Plekanov .

The 209th Sojuzpushnina International Fur Auction took place on April 25th and 26th, 2019 in St. Petersburg. There were 34,750 raw (untanned) Farmed sables, 4,764 pine marten furs and 78 lynx skins offered to sale.

Merchandise

Curly Persian fur on a Sojuzpushnina prospectus

The two types of fur that are primarily associated with Russia are sable and Persian. The sable fur has been traded as a treasure for over a thousand years. It is still the highest rated fur today.

Persians , the fur of the karaku lamb, came from the Russian area around the city of Bukhara and Afghanistan until the first half of the 20th century . After the Second World War it was largely displaced in the western business world by the further breeding from Namibia called Swakara , which no longer has the small curl typical of Persians, but a flamed, broad-tailed , beautifully drawn moiré.

In the beginning it was, besides Persians, the skins of wild animals that came on the market. In 1936 the main types of fur exported (82.9 percent of the total), sable does not appear in this list:

Persians (35.0%)
Feh (21.0%)
Red fox (10.0%)
Ermine (3.7%)
White fox (3.1%)
Foals (2.5%)
Kolinsky (1.5%).

Red fox, white fox, ermine, white polecat (steppe iltis) and Kolinsky were all made as raw hides . Even further prepared and sold dyed were Def (75%, as fur semi-finished products (40%) and foals, isolated in Fehwammenfutter and Fehrückensäcke), Persian. Other types of fur were white and gray rabbits , marbles , lamb , sable, Krimmer , black (European) polecat, lynx and mink .

With the establishment of Sojuzpushnina, fur animals began to be kept on farms in Russia. It started on a small scale with sable and mink. The skins were traded under their Russian names as registered trademarks, sable as Sobol , mink as Norka and the Persians as Bukhara after their original home . In 1960, after the introduction of a comprehensive breeding program, the company was so far advanced that all the original colors of the mink, as well as some of the newly created mutation colors, could be offered. By 1961, Russia was the world's largest producer of mink fur. At the time, blue, silver, red and platinum fox skins , polecat, raccoon, nutria and rabbit skins were also bred from Russia .

For a time they also took over the distribution of skins from the Mongolian People's Republic and Korea , nutria from Poland, mink and blue fox from Finland, Afghan karakul and Norwegian seal.

In 1981 Sojuzpushnina traded in addition to skins and many other products, for example leather, artificial leather and bone glue.

The fur palace

  • Jury Fränkel for the auction in the Pelzpalast

  • Preview of the skins

  • During the auction

In the Petersburg, then Leningrad, Fur Palace opened in 1939, all services for the fur auctions are united under one roof, from the large auction hall to rooms for the storage, sorting and appraisal of the fur. In the same year the first fur auction took place there with 78 participants from eleven countries; on March 2, 1931, the first buyer won the bid.

The Fur Palace is located on St. Petersburg's Moskovsky Prospect . The centerpiece of the large three-story house was the semicircular auction room with space for three hundred visitors. A few days beforehand, the goods to be auctioned were exhibited in the large adjoining halls. In 1962, the Russian Post issued a six kopeck stamp dedicated to Soyuzpushnina, on which the auction house is shown in an artist's representation next to an ermine .

The monumental building with 25,000 square meters of usable space on Moskovsky Prospect has been empty since 2001, awaiting an announced large-scale redesign. The reconstruction project was developed by the "Design-Design Bureau after WS Fialkowski" and carried out by Sodis stroi . It was planned to locate the office and bank center and the headquarters of the "Senit" bank. At the same time, the external appearance of the building was to be retained; the main changes only affected the interior. Work began in 2015 and should be completed by summer 2016, but the building was not ready in summer 2018.

Web links

Commons : Sojuzpushnina  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Without indication of the author: Fiat, Turin - V / O Sojuspushnina . In: Winckelmann Pelzmarkt No. 114, January 7, 1972, p. 5.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g 50 years of the V / O Soyuspushnina Foreign Trade Association . In: Brühl No. 6, November / December 1981, pp. 5-8.
  3. ↑ Vladimir Pavlinin: The sable . A. Ziemsen Verlag, Wittenberg 1966.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Siegmund Schapiro: Russian tobacco products . In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt No. 138, November 18, 1930, pp. 3, 5.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f www.sojuzpushnina.ru: History . (English). Last accessed July 7, 2018.
  6. ↑ Robert Ehrmann: Russian skins . In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt No. 27, Leipzig, July 8, 1937, p. 2.
  7. ↑ a b c d Without naming the author: Jubilee in Leningrad . In: Rund um den Pelz - Pelz International No. 11, November 1986, pp. 115–117.
  8. ↑ Hermann Groß: Russische Rauchwaren and Leipzig . In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt No. 67, Leipzig June 6, 1931, p. 1.
  9. ↑ Wolfgang Bohne: Development tendencies of the fur industry . Inaugural dissertation at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Leipzig, 1930, p. 56 ( → table of contents ).
  10. ↑ Hermann Groß: Russische Rauchwaren and Leipzig . In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt No. 66, Leipzig June 4, 1931, p. 3.
  11. ↑ a b c d Sojuzpushnina Annual Report for 1936 . Mezhdunarodnaja Kniga Moscow (English).
  12. ↑ Editor: Sojuzpushnina 200th International Fur Auction in St. Petersburg April 27-29, 2016 . In: Pelzmarkt Newsletter 06/16, Deutscher Pelzverband Frankfurt am Main, June 2016, p. 3 (from the address by Klaus-Dieter Ribak).
  13. ↑ a b Sojuzpushnina 50 Years . Leaflet, 1981 (English)
  14. ↑ Bukhara Karakul USSR . V / O Sojuzpushnina, Moscow, Leningrad, USSR. Undated German-language prospectus, with models, among others by Dieter Zoern .
  15. ^ Advertisement in the trade journal Hermelin , No. 4–6, 1948.
  16. ↑ a b www.sojuzpushnina.ru: Archives . (English). Last accessed July 9, 2018.
  17. ↑ Elena Krom: "Soyuzpushnina" штурмует клетки . «Эксперт Северо-Запад» No. 29 (Russian). Last accessed August 2, 2018.
  18. ↑ Unspecified by the author: Sojuzpushnina - new director . In: Pelzmarkt Newsletter No. 12, December 2018, Deutscher Pelzverband Frankfurt am Main, p. 14.
  19. ^ Sojuzpushnina St. Petersburg . In: Pelzmarkt Newsletter No. 9, September 2019, Deutscher Pelzverband Frankfurt am Main, pp. 2–3.
  20. ↑ Sojuzpushnina - RusPushnina - International Fur Auctions in S. Petersburg . In: Pelzmarkt Newsletter No. 12, December 2019, Deutscher Pelzverband Frankfurt am Main, pp. 2–3.
  21. ↑ Sojuzpushnina - 207th St. Petersburg International Fur Auction December 16, 2018 . In: Pelzmarkt - Newsletter of the German Fur Association , 06/2019, p. 2.
  22. ↑ WI Kilischewski: fur-bearing animals on stamps of the USSR . In: Brühl , May / June 1987 edition. Primary source: Kroliwodstwo i swerowodstwo .
  23. ↑ Tatyana Zhdanova , Ekaterina Wassiljewa: Забытые и заброшенные: "ДП" составил карту промышленных недостроев Петербургаев Петербургаев Петербургаев Петербургаев , August 22, 2017 (Russian). Last accessed July 13, 2018.