HOME WOOL SALES.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18013, 4 March 1924, Page 8

HOME WOOL SALES.

ADVANCE IN PRICES

(TEOM Ot7R OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, January 2G

At the opening of the first series of London sales of Colonial wool for the current year three catalogues were submitted. jointly totalling 13.341 bales and including 4328 bales from New Zealand. A large number of buyers attended, and. with brisk competition, the bulk of the offerings was cleared at generally firmer rates. Combing descriptions attracted good attention, but clothing qualities were not so

actively sought after, while showing, slight irregularity at times. The amount of greasy crossbred New Zealand wool available (says the "Daily Telegraph") lor the present series is very small. The British Australian Wool Realisation Association offers oniv 37.000 bales Australian crossbreds and IS,(XX) New Zealand. About 37,000 'hales of private. New Zealand wool will be offered, but it is improbable that there will be more than 20,000 bales of greasy crosbreds altogether, the above figures including slipes and scoureds. The Cape wools to be offered (57-10 bales) will include' a fair number of second-hand parcels, while tho New South Wales offerings. of 123.000 bales will, it is expected, contain a good number of speculators' merinos. There will be more merino wool this series than for one or two past, as there -will be over 11.000 bales lrom West Australia, 18.000 from Queensland, and nearly 15,000 from Victoria. The total offerings for the scries are 100.700 bales.

A few remarkable, prices have been paid this week for greasy merinos, both Queensland and Victorian touching 39d. There wa.s a. little American competition for them, but most of the line wool went to Germany and •Switzerland, with medium merinos to Bradford. On the whole, greasy merinos were-5 per cent, above December closing rates, though in Capes this wa.s 011I3' noticeable in the best wools. Scoured Victorian skin touched (i.lkl, and scoured Queensland (ib'd, prieesi for most scoured, both merinos and crossbreds, being 10 per cent, higher, and lambs 15 per cent. Greasy Australian crossbreds were 10 per cent, above December, New Zealand about the same./' New Zealand scoured and slippa/. crossbreds were 10 to 15 per cent, dearer.

Sensational Advances. Remarkable advances have taken place in wool prices since last July (the "Daily Telegraph" corespondent remarks). At the close of the last London sales one of the leading selling brokers gave figures showing that merinos had advanced IG per cent, compared with the December series of 11)22. That advance was more than sufficient in view of the high level to which fine ivool had already attained. It was shown at the time that whereas in December, 1913, the top lines of some of the best Australian greasy clips were selling at 12d to 13d, similar wools made 32d to 34d last December. The advance in crossbreds has been sensational, and even since the close of the last London sales values have advanced 15 to 20 per cent. These advances are really alarming, and are of i great significance to the general public. | A careful comparison of crossbred prices reveals the following advances: New Zealand halfbreds 15 per cent., medium crossbreds (46's) 33 per cent. These are simply London sales' comparisons, to which the above-mentioned I 15 to 20 per cent, must be added. Obviously such advances in wool must bo followed sooner or later by something like relative advances in the combed product. j '"Such a rise cannot be justified on economic grounds, particularly as there is no harmony to-day between raw wool and the trade in yarns and pieces. It is very questionable indeed whether the consumptive capacity of the trado favours any further inflation of values. The utmost is being made of the alleged shortage in the clips of Australia and South America, and now that nearly all stock held by the British Australian Wool Eealisation Association has been cleared there is admittedly no surplus to fall back upon in the event of any temporary reduction brought about by partial failures ?>f wool crops in any part of the world. As the Association held 913,215 bales of wool at the end of 1922, it is obvious that, including the usual colonial clips which have come forward, a big weight of wool has been cleared during the past twelve months. There is not, however, sufficient activity at the manufacturing end of the trade to justify the present scale of values for wool. Particularly in crossbreds speculation is too much in evidence." * The National Mortgage and Agency Company report that the turn of the year finds wool markets in a most healthy condition —in fact, there can be few articles of produce which shape better. The coming shortage, although not yet actually felt, is evidently beginning to arouse apprehension among buyers. Owing to the existence of stocks of finished goods made out of material acquired on a much lower basis, the price of raw wool is relatively higher than that of tops, yarns, etc., but as soon as these cheaper stocks are disposed of, manufacturers and others will be forced drastically to revise their prices, and consequently have a rather difficult time in front of them; but the position is statistically so sound that it is hard to escape the conviction that later on values, in all probability, certainly of medium and coarse qualities of crossbreds, will reach higher levels than those ruling to-day. On the 11th inst. about 23,800 bales of B.A.W.R.A. wool were offered at Hull. These wero all Australian crossbreds, at least five years old. Notwithstanding the heavy condition of the wool, competition was excellent, whilo prices all round wero fully 10 per cent, higher than closing December values here. Again, on the 17th and 18th inst. a further sale of about 34,000 bales of B.A.W.R.A. wool was held at Liverpool. Competition was very keen and values were about 5 per cent, better than at Hull a week before. Current quotations for New Zealand wool are given thus by the National Mortgage and Agency Company.

Superior. Average. Inferior. d. d. d. d. d. d. Greasy merino 31 to — 23 to 30 24 to 26 Scoured merino .. 55J to — 52 to 54 46 to 48 Greasy J-bred 5GV 30 to — 27 to 29 20 to 24 Greasy £-bred 50-5o's 26 to 23 23 to 25 171 to 191 Greasy x-bred 4S-50's .. 21 to 23 19J to 20J 151 to 17J Greasv x-bred 46-i8'3 .. 19 to 20 17J to 13J 15 to 16 Greasv x-bred 44-46's 171 to 18i 16 to 17 14 to 15 Greasy x-bred 40-4-Ts .- IS to 17 15 to 151 IS to 14 Greasy x-bred 36-40's .. 151 to 16 141 to 15 121 to 13 Greasy x-bred lambs 21 to — 17J to 181 131 to 141 Grensy pea. & bels. trier. 26 to 23 22 to 24 17 to 13 Greasy tics. & bels., J-b. 23 to 26 17itol9i 13 to 14 Greasy lys. & bels., x-b. 16 to 17 12 to 13 10 toll Crutchin.<»s 14 to 15 10 toll 81 to 91 Slipe J-bred Iambs 31 to 33 29 to 30 23 to 25 Slipe 2-bred lambs 26 to 23 231 to 241 18 to20 Slipe Leicester lamba 19Jto20 13 to 19 15 to 16