The report, A full-cost account of the EU fur industry, sheds light on the fragile economic state of the fur industry, with the number of EU fur farms having declined by 73% over one decade, and production expected to decline by a further 15 - 20% by 2028. As the prices of pelts plummeted, the industry is no longer financially viable and is a major recipient of public funds in compensation for lost sales. Generating -€9.2million in gross value added (GVA), the industry reduces, rather than contributes, to the EU economy.  The fur industry makes up less than 0.003% of EU jobs — a figure comparable to obsolete and equally outdated sectors like VHS rentals. 

Fur production also comes at a significant environmental cost, estimated at €226 million annually in harm from pollution, resource use, local disamenity, and invasive alien species. The industry’s heavy emissions have been linked to chronic respiratory diseases and premature deaths across Europe.  

Fur farms additionally present a huge toll on public health, posing as high-risk reservoirs for zoonotic diseases, a case made highly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report estimates that measures to prevent the transmission of zoonotic pathogens would cost €211 million annually. 

All this comes at an ultimate cost of the lives of millions of fur-bearing animals, who are confined to cages enduring extreme psychological distress, hindered from displaying natural behaviour and suffering physical injuries, all for a non-necessary product that citizens and major brands are turning away from. Just last year, 6.3 million animals were killed for their fur in the EU. 

This report, launched at the European Parliament (EP) today, comes weeks after EFSA, in its scientific opinion to the European Commission (EC), made it clear that animal suffering is unavoidable on fur farms and that the needs of animals cannot be met, irrespective of further enrichment. This opinion was commissioned in response to the Fur Free Europe ECI, supported by 1.5 million EU citizens. The EC is expected to provide a final response by March 2026. 

“The fur sector’s apparent profits mask staggering hidden costs—on public health, biodiversity, animal welfare, and the climate. This new study gives us even stronger grounds to demand legislation that ensures no trade is allowed to benefit from cruelty and ecological damage within the single market,” said MEP Kristian Vigenin (S&D), who hosted the event at the EP. 

“Fur is dead - a sobering truth for the EU fur industry. As the report shows, the fur sector is in sharp decline, and in terms of net contribution it actually harms EU prosperity. Not only is fur farming a grim reality for the millions of animals killed in farms each year, but the industry survives on subsidies rather than consumer demand, and the severe external costs of fur farming are borne by the public. The same public that spoke out in 2022, when over 1.5 million EU citizens supported the ECI to end fur farming and trade. It’s time for EU policymakers to listen, act, and lead – end fur farming and close the chapter on an industry that no longer belongs in Europe," commented Georgia Diamantopoulou, European Policy Office Team Guide at FOUR PAWS.