some thoughts on this years' koi purchases

[dick benbow]

Word back from the farms is that alot of scrambling is going on with breeders
to get their hands on the necessary mud ponds.

some very famous breeders lost 80 to 90 % of their grow ponds. This will definetly affect production.

also i heard that because raising cash is a necessity to meet new demands and repairs that some excellent bargains are afoot without the grow pond option.

curious to hear what other have heard? and what they may perceive might happen in the future to the price of new purchases?

I have word out that I'm looking for a good Hi Shusui but the feedback I'm getting is that good koi are scarse and costs are up?

[Arthur]

Dick,

Not all preferences of koi/breeder are available due to the disaster. The fact is that in Niigata they just don't know yet what mud ponds are usable/repairable: they need the snow to melt down before an evaluation can be made.

Available tosai and nisai can be purchased at very reasonable prices: Niigata breeders do not want dealers to go buy their koi down South!

It really is a mixed bag: some breeders may not have as much space for gorwing out tosai to nisai, so high quality tosai may be had for a bargain; on the other hand many breeders lost a lot of nisai and want to keep their best tosai to grow out. Like I said it really is a mixed bag.

[Bob Hart]

Dick,

80/90% of mud ponds lost is what I've also heard from my local UK dealers. Therefore many breeders are selling off as many Koi as they have, as they will have no where to put them very soon.

Then It's a matter of seeing what ponds they have left and what they can repair. The other issue is that it is usually the winer snow/water which refills the new ponds and if they have to rebuild the ponds first, what will they fill them with after-wards? Cant say how 100% accurate this is though, they are very resourceful as we all know!

[dick benbow]

thanks guys for your insight! interesting!

[MikeM]

Dick: A well-known U.S. dealer was telling me that his current buying plans are to just play it by ear when he gets there. He has not been able to get an advance read on availability of koi meeting the wish lists of his hgh end customers, so will just try to fit in as many breeders as he can hoping he comes across what he wants. Hopes to come across some "finds", of course.

[Mike T]

Dick:

Atsushi (Mr. Lucky*) Suda’s son was in town a couple of weeks ago for a Koi sale, brought 4-6" tosai as well as some nisai and probably Sansai from their farm as well as some from Isa and maybe one or two other breeders…

The customers were surprised to see that the tosai, which in the past started at $25-50 were on sale starting at $150 with some reaching $300+… The nisai and older koi were in the $250, $300 and up range…

I was told, by people who should know, that the koi were better than those which were brought in during the past two years and the sales reflected this, more than half were sold the first of the two day sale…

*Another story for another time….

Aloha! Mike