AMERICA AND WOOL.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 88, 15 April 1925, Page 6

AMERICA AND WOOL.

TRADE EN" A BAD WAY. (From Oar Own Correspondent.) WELLI_7CrTO]Sr, Tuesday. Many authorities in the wool trado contend that the United States, owing to a steady increase in the population, is now capable of consuming half a million bales more than in the pre-war period, and that.the bulk, if not the whole, of that wool must be of foreign origin, because the domestic supply at best is not equal to furnishing half the quantity required/ and the domestic clip is not expanding! In spite of these predictions, purchases on behalf of the United States, both in Australia and New Zealand this season have been exceedingly small. At the opening of the sales there was every indication -that the United States was wool-hun-gry, but this soon passed away,. and American, representatives have bought sparingly. For the past four months the Americans have done very. little buying in any foreign market, and towards the. end of February, the Boston market was reported to be exceedingly quiet. A Boston paper dealing with the then existing situation remarked that as a general market proposition, ■it was realised that fluctuations in prices were sure to be experienced and that dull periods often followed times of great activity. The wool situation was believed to be fundamentally sound. Hesitancy and lack of demand were thought to be only temporary. Some shrewd manufacturers anticipated an improvement in April, but as yet there is no sign of it. The trouble in the' United States appears to be a slack demand for the manufactured goods. As showing the adverse conditions under which the industry is working, it may be noted that the American Woollen Company, the largest organisation in . the woollen trade of the United States, ' showed" the gigantic loss of 12,000,000 dollars last year.