The report, titled A Full Accounting of the EU Fur Industry, highlights the sector’s fragile economic situation, with a 73% reduction in fur farms over the past decade and a projected further decline of 15 to 20% by 2028. With fur prices plummeting, the industry has ceased to be financially viable and has become a major recipient of public funds to offset lost sales. Generating a negative gross value added (GVA) of €9.2 million, the sector detracts from, rather than contributes to, the European economy.
The fur industry represents less than 0.003% of employment in the EU, a figure comparable to obsolete sectors such as VHS video rental, and is similarly outdated.
Fur production also entails a significant environmental cost, estimated at €226 million annually due to pollution, resource use, impacts on local communities, and the introduction of invasive exotic species. The sector’s high emissions have been linked to chronic respiratory illnesses and premature deaths across Europe.
Fur farms additionally pose a serious public health threat, acting as high-risk reservoirs for zoonotic diseases, a risk clearly demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report estimates that preventive measures to control zoonotic pathogen transmission would cost €211 million annually.
Ultimately, this all comes at the cost of millions of animal lives: animals raised for their fur are confined in cages, experiencing severe psychological stress, prevented from expressing natural behaviors, and suffering physical injuries, all for a non-essential product that citizens and major brands are increasingly rejecting. Just last year, 6.3 million animals were killed for their fur in the EU.
This report, presented this month to the European Parliament (EP), comes just weeks after the EFSA issued a scientific opinion to the European Commission (EC) stating that animal suffering is unavoidable in fur farms and that the animals’ needs cannot be met, regardless of any improvements to their environment. This opinion was commissioned in response to the European Citizens’ Initiative Fur Free Europe, supported by 1.5 million people. The European Commission is expected to provide a definitive response before March 2026.
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