Conserving Musk Deer the Uses of Musk and Europe's Role in its Trade (pdf, 360 kb)

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trade tabulations in 1989 and 1994, respectively.  The predominant share of musk imported into Germany,

Switzerland and France came from the Soviet Union and later from Russia (see Table 8).

Table 8

Musk imported by Germany, France and Switzerland from 1980-96

Notes

: SU = Soviet Union; RU = Russia; ? = no data; App. I = CITES Appendix I species.  Number of exports reported

and imports reported differ owing to different reporting methods to WCMC.

Source: WCMC, January 1998.

According to its own import reports, France received some 10 kg of raw musk annually, on average, from

the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s (see Figure 7).  Germany imported 10 kg in 1994 and 1995, each, and in

1996 nearly 40 kg.  In the 1990s, Switzerland imported a total of about 12 kg over three years.

According to CITES reports from the countries of export, France and Switzerland imported substantially

more musk over the same period than they themselves declared as imported (see Figure 8).  Records of

exporters to Germany, on the other hand, more or less match the volumes Germany’s own import records

declare for the same period. 

The competent CITES Management Authorities (MAs) in Germany (Bundesamt für Naturschutz, Bonn),

Switzerland (Office Vétérinaire Fédéral, Bern) and France (Ministère du Territoire et de l‘Environnement,

Direction de la Nature et des Paysages, Paris), confirmed that the trade records that were communicated

to the CITES Secretariat for compilation by WCMC represent actual levels of trade.  (Customs check the

shipments upon import, and note actual volumes in the allotted spaces on the relevant CITES documents

for compilation by the MAs). 

From 1980 to 1996, Germany imported all its musk directly from Russia, Switzerland obtained its musk

from Hong Kong, Russia and France, and France itself imported musk from Hong Kong, the Soviet Union,

Nepal, Switzerland, Singapore and Senegal (see Table 8).  France’s imports in 1985 and 1986 from Nepal

were from Appendix I-listed populations of musk deer.

Period

Country 

Country

Country of

Quantity

Country of

Country of

Quantity (kg)

of import

of export, as

origin, as 

(kg), as

export, as

origin, as

as reported

reported by

reported by

reported by

reported by

reported by

by country/

country of

country of

country of

country/

country/

territory

import

import

import

territory of

territory of

of export

export

export

1994-1996

Germany

Russia

RU

58.682

Russia

RU

58.36

1980-1995

France

Hong Kong

SU/RU/?

39.62

Hong Kong

SU/RU/?

138.52

Soviet Union

SU

22.01

Soviet Union

SU

15.02

Nepal

Nepal App. I

20.1

Switzerland

SU

6

Switzerland

SU/RU

12

Singapore

SU

2.925

Singapore

SU

2

Senegal

?

1

1989-1995

Switzerland Hong Kong

SU/RU

10

Russia

RU

39.29

Russia

RU

2

Hong Kong

SU/RU

17

France

SU

0.005

France

SU

0.005

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Switzerland, and in particular Germany, re-export significant quantities of raw musk (see Figures 9 and

10).  For example, Switzerland re-exported a total of 11 kg to France and South Korea between 1989 and

1994 (see Table 9).  German re-exports of raw musk included 58 kg to Hong Kong and Singapore during

the period 1994-96.  This means that Switzerland re-exported 93%, and Germany 99%, of all the musk that

they imported (see Figure 11).  The import records of France and South Korea, by contrast, refer to 17 kg

of musk imported from Switzerland during the same period (see Table 9), while import figures from Hong

0

10

20

30

40

50

'95

'94

'93

'92

'91

'90

'89

'88

'87

'86

'85

'84

'83

'82

'81

'80

Year

Imported musk (Kg)

DE

FR

CH

up to

102 kg

0

10

20

30

40

50

'96

'95

'94

'93

'92

'91

'90

'89

'88

'87

'86

'85

Year

Imported musk (Kg)

DE

FR

CH

Source: WCMC, January 1998.

Figure 7

Imports of raw musk by Germany, France and Switzerland from 1985-96, as reported by these

countries

Figure 8

Imports of raw musk to Germany, France and Switzerland from 1980-95, as reported by exporting

countries and territories

Source: WCMC, January 1998.

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