WOOL TRADE REVIEW.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20249, 29 May 1931, Page 12

WOOL TRADE REVIEW.

—. 4 DIFFIDENCE IN FORECASTING. Jn its bi-aunual wool review, the Vic tor iaii Producers' Co-operative Co., Ltd., emphasises the difficulty of summing up tlio position of tho wool martet with accuracy. The report outlines briefly the sudden and almost unacuountuuic fluctuations OApcrmnceii in tne last season, 'me nrm is tiiereiore uimuent m lorecusung tlio luturo oi the maiKCt, but its sui *cy leads >t to the eonwusion tliat, tjcspice tno recent decline or prices m Jbonuon, prices ac tho opening sales or tno uoxt season xn oepieuiOer should . maintained at present-day values, assuming that wowa-wnle nnancial conditions <io not become worse, factors supporting this verdict are cited. . visible supplies oi raw wool overseas are smaller than has been the case for - some years; partly and wholly manufactured stocks' appear to have accumulated somewhat because the worldindustrial depression has pre- - - eluded normal consumption. Against this must be set tlio inability or substitutes to compete successfully against wool at-present 'low prices,;especially as they do. not compare with vtool in point of quality. Finance has. affected the rehabilitation of the wool trade, and the process is proving slower than would be the case if the financial posi- ' tion were normal. ,It lias been commonly' believed that wool would be one of the first commodities; to recover l'rom the crisis, owing 'to the pent-'ip demand, owiijg-to reduced purchasing power in consuming countries, and therfe are indieatiom, that the market will support this.view. The report contains a defence; of the wool-selling methods- adopted "in A us-j . tralia, and points out that. buyuis from all parts of the tariff:'ntcend sales in the Commonwealth,-and tliat Australia has' the advantage of some competition, particularly tliat of Japan, which •is absent from other • veiling centres.'. Japan purchased from • tho beginning .of the'season to: March 31st 345.CM9 bales-, larger quantities !>eing taken only"i>y Great Btitain and France. Tho firm contends that growers should not' export wool direct to> markets overseas, as has been done by some growers in. the Inst season, probably to gain'the advantage of the exchange premium. Growers-who are tempted, to experiment in overseas geßmjs reminded that charges of 2Jd a ; lb have to lie met, and that the London market is a dead end-, as vendors are compelled to accept whatever price is offering or to submit to heavy charges for storage and rcoffering. OIL FROM GOAL. DEVELOPMENTS IN BRITAIN. . U'-A 1 \-. .4 •. : ..'I Mr "dcorge Hall; Civil Lord of the British Admiralty, recently made some important statemehts on the research r work of. the Admiralty in connexion with the production of fuel, oil from coal. During the last. 12 or IS months, ha «aid, itliad' been proved that oil froin coal could be used as a fuel and it gave almost the same - results ad natural oil. - *3n Holland -there' was a .State coalmining industry, and it was about ' the only coalmining industry -in the world that' was paying at the present time, The Dutch were- developing t&fiir by-products works in connexion ' ir|th>ibiß industry. With proper organisation of power-producing industry in Great Britain, instead of tho , nation spending as it did in the last year nearly £42,000,000 for .the importation of oil, a very large proportion of. that money could be expended 6a oil produced from, its own coalfields, and thus minimise the present depression of the coal industry.WHEAT PRODUCTION. ACREAGE IN UNITED STATES. - (VXIXED PBZBS ASSOCiATIOS —JBV BtECralO '.rcucaßAMJ:—corxaioHT.) WASHINGTON, May 27. I£s position explained at the ..London Wheat Conference the Federal . Farm Board will now intensify its campaign far a domestic acreage reduction this summer V and autumn. Th© Board, which has repeatedly gn-M the cure for 'low prices lies in growing wheat equaj to home oonsumpuon needs, has 'flat' as its goal a cut of 20 to 25 per cent, in the winter wheat sown next autumnr -Such.a redaction, the officials believe, plus > a -cut of 12 w 14 per'cent, in the spring wheat planted this, year, which >u*y : ■ be farther reduced by adverse weather,' would b® a remarkable stimulus to improved prices. NEWFOUNDLAND LOAN. .. NEGOTIATIONS .IN - CANADA. ■ isxnaat naewto ST. JOHN?S (Newfoundland), •- • -»■■■• ...- • . • May 27. • The Minister, ipr Finance, Ml- Peter Oaebin/'aad ~A&ssor of Taxes, Mr . John left-to-day for Montml 'to a ".loan for*. Newfound- '>* VVumoured thst it will be 0.000,*llOO dollars. Recently the- BankO*. ' Montreal innated tenders f°r * ,i®* foundland loan 6f 8,000,000 dollMßj ' bajh none waa forthcoming*