On the Pacific coast of North America, in the mid-late 18th and early 19th centuries, China was the major market for furs. Sea otter furs were especially prized for being perhaps the warmest furs around, but beaver and other furs were also taken to China. Up until the early 19th century there was a large European/American demand for Chinese goods like tea, but almost no demand in China for European/American goods except for silver and fur.
British and American fur traders on the Pacific coast took furs to Canton, the only port where China allowed traders at the time. Russian furs, even those from Russian American were not allowed at Canton; instead Russian trade had to go overland through Kyakhta (today on the Russia-Mongolia border).
The number of furs going to China was probably smaller than the number from interior North America going elsewhere (I can get hard numbers later if desired) but it was large and profitable enough to support rather large ventures by numerous companies. For example John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company (PFC) and the founding of Astoria, Oregon. During the War of 1812 Fort Astoria was taken by the British and became part of the Montreal-based North West Company and later the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). But before Astor's PFC failed an overland expedition found South Pass, which later became a key part of the Oregon Trail. Most of the Oregon Trail west of South Pass was established by the British HBC to tap the Snake River basin fur region.
In the early 19th century the HBC deliberately overhunted the Snake River region, purposefully creating a "fur desert", as part of their efforts to keep American fur companies away from HBC operations in the Pacific Northwest.
I'm on mobile but can expand on this in a bit, if desired. Some good sources on the topic:
(edit: a few more words and sources)
The area that became Western Canada is an interesting case study. In 1670, Charles II granted through royal charter the entire watershed of Hudson Bay to the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). This began commerce between indigenous North Americans around the bay with English fur interests. The furs satisfied the English market for beaver felt and other fancy furs. This market was in competition with the French fur trade that was operating out of the St. Lawrence basin. These two competing interest sold fancy furs through out Europe. Beaver felt top hats became the symbol of the trade -- and it spoke to a certain class of purchasers -- but through the years, European markets took on a wide variety of furs from american animals. An important consideration here is that European demand for furs had extinguished much of the fancy fur of the continent.
Where this becomes interesting with Western Canada is that as the HBC emerged as a monopoly in the northern North American fur trade, they actually has some power to delay the colonisation of the Hudson Bay drainage system. It wasn't until Canada "purchased" the rights of the HBC to the land that Canadian colonisation of northwestern North American began in earnest. By the time the Canadian government was looking west for expansion, bison herds and other fancy fur stock had declined to such an extent (in addition to changing fashions in Europe) that the wide scale fur trade wasn't as profitable. In this case, and until the 1860s/1870s, the fur trade was a hindrance to colonisation.
Regarding sources, the classic The Fur Trade In Canada, by Harold Innis, lays out the staples thesis for Canada -- that the northern half of North American was dependent on the trade in furs for it's development. Arthur Silver Morton wrote A history of the Canadian West to 1870-71 in 1930 and it remains a go to overview (though dated) of the region. Another classic text, though again dated, is E.E. Rich's The Fur Trade and the Northwest to 1857 that will cover the economics of the fur trade in the Canadian context. More recent texts tend to delve into more specifics of the trade.
The primary European buyer for beaver skins were the hat makers. Early felt hats were made from wool or camel hair. While they were warm, durable and sort of water resistant, they would not hold their shape for long. Eventually the hatters discovered that the fine hairs close to a beavers skin could be turned into a superior product that had a finer finish and would hold whatever shape it was formed in. Hats became the ultimate sign of style and wealth and soon they became larger and more outlandish as seen by these shapes and styles from the 1600's.
In a short time the beaver in Europe and Scandinavia were almost trapped to extinction and the hatters began buying their pelts out of Russia. As the years went by and the hats got bigger even Russia appeared to be running short of fur. The growing demand for large and stylish hats brought high prices for beaver pelts which was the driving force behind the North American fur trade.
Beaver living in colder regions have finer hair and thicker coats than those living in warmer Southern climates. While the hatters bought whatever beaver they could get they paid premium prices for pelts from the northern regions.
Separating the coarse outer guard hair from the fine inner hair was a laborious and time consuming process for the hatters. But soon they learned that many of the beaver pelts coming in from North America already had most of the outer hair removed from them. These pelts were called Made Beaver and became the standard that all fur prices were based on. In the late 1700's one made beaver was equal in value to eight regular beaver pelts. The process the Indians used to create a Made Beaver was actually quite simple. All they had to do was sleep on it for a winter. The friction caused from their bodies moving around in their beds pulled the coarse outer guard hairs out of the hide and left the soft jnner hair behind.
Other furs such as lynx, mink, marten, weasel and fisher were used to make coats or. Soft inner linings for clothing just like they are today. Squirrel hides are used to line the insides of gloves. I have seen them mentioned in the journals that I have read but haven't seen them mentioned in the export reports so am guessing that they were mostly used in-country. Rabbit hides were often used as linings inside ones footwear or for blankets.
I have many different journals and collections of letters from various fur trading districts that provide prices paid for furs or value of trade goods over the years (my compliments of the many books published by the Hudson's Bay Records Society, the Champlain Society and other historical interest groups). As the years progressed these prices changed often and sometimes drastically. When the Northwest Company and Hudson's Bay Company were in heated competition the HBC raised the prices it paid so high in hopes of bankrupting it's challengers that the company's shareholders lost money. During this time the HBC were giving the Indians a pound of gunpowder, a pound of shot and a fowling gun for two large beaver skins while ten years earlier they were wanted one Made Beaver for a pound of gunpowder, another Made Beaver for a pound of shot and three Made Beaver for a fowling gun. It seems that the conversion from regular beaver skins to Made Beaver remained in the range of being between 7 and 10 beaver being equal to 1 Made Beaver over the years. By the later part of the 1800's hatters found a means of separating the guard hairs and the Made Beaver was no longer the benchmark for traders.
The Sea Otter trade in the North Pacific came about by chance. Captain Cook was a renown seaman and cartographer. He was sent to the North Pacific with orders to chart the coast and look for the much fabled Northwest Passage. In the 1770's merchants and sailors still believed in or hoped that a sea channel existed which would allow ships to sail through North America, thus shortening the distance between Europe and China. Cook finally confirmed that this fabled passage does not exist. His ships sailed to Canton China on their way home [Captain Cook was killed by natives on the Hawaiian Islands]. In Canton the sailors discovered that the sea otter hides they traded buttons and nails for were worth a small fortune to the Chinese. James King took over command of the ships after Cook's death. Back in England he wrote that one seaman sold his collection of fur bedding, which was of poor quality to the Chinese for over eight hundred dollars while another man sold two clean and we'll prepared furs for $120 each. He then said that the total value received for their furs was in excess of two thousand pounds sterling, but only one third of the furs they gathered were better than poor in condition and the crew threw out much of what they had.
This began the Pacific fur trade.
The first ship known to enter the North Pacific in search of furs was aptly named the Sea Otter. Piloted by captain James Hanna it made two trips to the Pacific shores. Records show that on his first trip he sold 560 sea otter pelts for just under $20,000. He went directly back to North America and had a hard time finding furs because of other ships sailing the same waters. On his second trip his cargo amounted to only $8,000.
