Alpaca as a Product
The alpaca has always been kept as a livestock animal. The domestication of the vicuña enabled the early inhabitants of the Andes to have constant access to a variety of raw materials. While today the residents of the high regions of South America still use various components such as meat, hide, or dung of the alpacas, most breeders in other parts of the world focus on the precious fleece of the animals. Other uses arise more as a by-product of fleece harvesting.
Alpaca meat was long considered a food for the poor in South America. Tourism has put it back on the menus of trendy travel hotspots. However, only older animals, whose fleece quality and yield have diminished, are usually slaughtered. There is also a small market for alpaca meat in Australia.
The animals’ hide is less suitable as a material for large-scale production chains. Although leather goods exist on local markets, the hide is not uniform enough for industrial leather processing. The extraordinary body shape of the alpacas further complicates its use.
Although the utilization of the animals and the value chain around the globe are very diverse, one general statement can be made: Only very few people have truly become rich from alpacas. In the USA, the situation is often reversed: Wealthy people buy alpacas as an investment and can simultaneously save on taxes.
Alpacas are considered livestock in the USA, and their purchase is heavily tax-advantaged. Prices for alpacas there are quite high. The stallion that has so far fetched the highest auction price changed owners for a staggering 675,000 dollars.
Whether such a price is economically justified remains highly controversial.
To achieve a stable income with alpacas over the long term, it generally requires a close connection to textile processing. This is where the majority of the actual value creation takes place. The industrial spinning mills that process alpaca fiber into yarn form a duopoly in South America: The large companies Michell and Grupo Inca process a large part of the alpaca fiber.
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Alpaca as a product
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