Comparison of traditional and current conditions for sorting sable skins
The article compares the rules for sorting sable skins in the Soviet and modern periods, identifies the main changes in the requirements for the quality of sable skins over the past 40 years. The dependences of the purchase prices established by Soviet standards and the purchase prices determined by the purchasers at the present time on the quality of the skins are determined. To analyze the value of skins of various quality, taking into account changes in procurement prices over time, the authors used a relative indicator of commodity quality in the analysis process - a credit for the quality of skins. To determine it, the skins sold at auctions were reviewed at the joint auction of the Russian Sable BAC LLC and Soyuzpushnina LLC, held in February 2022. It is revealed that at present both the quality indicators themselves and their impact on the purchase price of sable skins have changed significantly. This is especially true for indicators such as size and color. So, unlike the sorting of the Soviet period, sable skins of light colors at auction are more expensive than dark ones, the price difference reaches 60%. It has been established that the gap between the offset in terms of the quality of auctions and producers of commercial furs increases as the quality of the skins decreases, which indicates the desire of intermediaries to extract additional profit during sorting.