THE WOOL SALES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVI, Issue 10685, 31 December 1925, Page 8

THE WOOL SALES

PROSPECTS AT CHRISTCHURCH.

CATALOGUE OF 20,000 BALES.

CHRISTCHUROH, This Day. The second Christcliurch wool sale of the 1925-26 season is to be held in the Ciioral Hall on Thursday, January 7, commencing at 7.30 p.m. The sale will be continued the following day. llie amounted allotted: by the N.Z. Wool Committee for this sale is 20,000 bales. Wool has been coming forward freely this season, and this quantity was m store and the catalogues were closed about a fortnight ago. Generally sneaking, the wool is ini good condition. Wool prices • to-day are much lower than they were twelve months ago. Last season opened with sensational prices, not dreamed of by growers even in their most sanguine moments. This season at the first sals held at Wellington prices were on a much lower basis than those of t.velve months ago, and at subsequent sales the tendency was for values to go lower rather than hi "-her. At least this was the tendency uivtil the recent sales at Timaru and Dunedin, which were marked by keen competition and by prices which, at least, showed no downward movement. One factor that has tended toward an improvement in the tone of the wool market is the freer competition from Bradford buyers. At the opening sales of the season, Bradford bought i very little wool, the prices, though much lower than those ruling twelve months ago, being apparently still too high for the Home buyers. At the first Cliristchurch sale, which was the fifth on the list for the Dominion, Bradford buyers operated to a moderate extent only. Stoce then, however, there has been much freer buying on the part of Bradford, prices apparently being more in accordance with their limits. At the Dunedin sale held just before Christmas, the bulk of the wool went to Bradford. It ds encouraging to find that Bradford houses are once more keen competitors for wool. > Another thing that has tended towards an improved, tone- is the fact that vendors at recent sales have met the market bet-tor than was the case at the earlier sales of the season. Hervy passings at a sole, naturally have a dopressing effect and tend to make the bidding lifeless. Of course, it has been hard,•■•for..-farmers to re-adjust their ideas wiiih regard to the value of wool after the-peak prices of twelve months ago. That fanners generally now realise that the price of wool has definitely fallen and that there is 'little to be gained by refusing to accept the market value is shown by the low per_centages of passings at the recent Timaru and Dunedin sales compared with the earlier sales of the season. At the first sales in the North Island for instance, a lot of the wool was passed. At the first Christchurch sale the passings totalled about 12 per cent., •whilst at the sale in Dunedin just before Christmas, the passings totalled only about five ! per cent. When all is "said and done, the prices that are being paiid for wool are still good and it is believed that farmers who are accepting them are acting wisely. Thei-e is nothing to be gained by refusing to meet the market. Last season, when wool prices began to fall, some growers refused to sell in New Zealand. They shipped their wool Home only to find that they could have got much more for it had they sold it in the Dominion.