Home Wool Market.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXII, Issue 6486, 3 February 1905, Page 4

Home Wool Market.

REASONS FOR THE DECLINE. The cables of the last day or two have announced a fall of Id per lb all round on the London wool market. As will be remembered, on the 17th inst the January j series of sales m London opened with an advance of 5 per cent, on previous rates. This was equal to a rise of a |d per lb on ■wool realising lOd per lb, and though the recent falls is only thus equal to a decline of about 5 percent, on rates ruling previous to the January sales, the question arises whether the decline will stop at the figure it has reached, or whether prices are likely to sag further. Fortunately about twothirds to three-quarters of New Zealand's clip has already been sold. 'Io the growers of the wool it is a gratifying fact that the bulk of the cross-bred wool has been disposed of, merino and other fine wools being still m good demand. As to the cause of the decline on the Home market, opinions vary somewhat. In some quarters it is held to be due to a possibility of the Russo-Japanese War coming to an end, which eventually is being entertained to a certain extent by some. With the ending- of the war would come the cancellation of targe orders for blankets and other woollen goods. One of the chief contributing causes is held by others to be> of a different nature. As may be generally known, the wool is either bought direct for the manufacturers at home, on the Continent, and m America, or it is bought to be resold on the London market, generally nt the May and July sales. Ihe speculative element enters largely into the later case, but so far as is known the specul«tor has operated to a very small extent indeed at this season's sales m New Zealand—much smaller than usual. The wool has nearly all been bought to the order of the Home and foreign manufacturers. These manufacturers, having filled their requirements by direct purchasing m this colony, are consequently not competitors to any extent m the London siles now being held. A Bother aspect arising out oF this direct purchasing it that the Home houses, having tli eir purchasing crowded into the comparatively brief colonial wool season, instead of being distributed over the London sales (which take place m January, March, May, July, September, and November), have had their finances taxed so severely that they have been compelled to hold aloof, and the withdrawal of their buying support has weakened the market. As to whether prices are likely to decline still further or not, opinions agree m the main. One authority states that the condition of the market as regards supply and demand seems almost to preclude any possibility of any serious slump m prices. It is believed that m January some Bradford mills had to purchase on a lightlysupplied market almost at any price to keep their looms goiug to fulfil orders, and extreme rates were thus reached, which wero not likely to continue with a more settled market. Iv short, confidence is expressed that if there be any fall during the coming months it will be a very gradual one indeed,—Dunedin " Star."