WOOL PRICES

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26261, 4 November 1950, Page 9

WOOL PRICES

EFFECT ON TRADE DISCUSSED Present prices for wool will not be fully reflected in retail prices for goods for a considerable period, says wincheombe. Carson. Ltcl’a latest report, fabrics of apparel now on sale were made from wool costing much less than current purchases. Lest season’s prices for thd'raw material did not have any apparent ill effect on trade, although anticipated by many. For the January to July period of this year, Great Britain's exports of tops were 43.0G(h0061b, being 20 per cent, higher than tor the same period of 1949. Woollen and worsted fabric shipments were 63,300,000 square yards, being slightly greater. The quantity of yarns shipped expanded. In Australia, the mills which used 13 per cent of the clip in 1938-39 accounted for 22 per cent. In 1947-48, but have decreased to 17 per cent. Contrasts show in the Australian export trade. The overseas shipments of piece goods which amounted to 5,509,000 square yards in 1948-47 have since sharply decreased, but exports of tops, noils and. wastes have continued on high post-war levels. Latest available figures, however, do not disclose any appreciable falling off in output of woollen and worsted fabrics. Larger supplies have been used locally to offset the reduction in export trade. The mill industry generally has prospered and expanded over the years. It is only during the last three years that the general run of sheepowners has experienced attractive profits. The satisfactory nature of those results to-day depends upon seasonal circumstances. Drought and the reverse, floods, can quickly turn potential profit into loss. . At the present time Australia is estimated to pasture 111,581,873 sheep and lambs. In 1942 the total was 125,502,873, but by 1947. the number Was 95,722,774. Those figures Illustrate the vicissitudes which landholders ean suffef. Their surprise can well be understood at the discussions which have arisen in Australia regarding prevailing wool prices. Continental mills have been well em.* ployed this year and have proved most extensive purchasers at the sales held so far this season. In Germany mill output has increased. Worsted yarn output is 17 per cent, above a year ago, but is not yet equal to demahd.

COMPANY NEWS

Bruce Woollen Accounts.—After providing £23.380 for depreciation on buildings, plant, and machinery, and providing for taxation, the net profit of the Bruce Woollen Manufacturing Company, Ltd., is £21,297 (which with £13,687 brought forward. makes a total in the profit and loss appropriation account of £34,984). In their report to be presented at the annual meeting of shareholders on November 15. the directors recommend payment of a dividend on the cumulative preference shares (£2800), payment of a dividend at the rata of 8 per cent, on the ordinary shares (£8000), and the transfer to reserve of £lO,OOO, leaving £14,184 to be carried forward. The directors say that in spite of the continued shortage of staff in some departments, production was Increased by working overtime. The plant has been further modernised by the irtstallatlon of new machinery.—(P.A.) •

RUBBER AND TIN PRICES RISE

(Special Corrttxtowitnt LONDON, November 2. Landmarks in the price history of the two principal commodities produced by the British Commonwealth—rubber and tin—were attained on London markets today. Rubber reached and passed the level of 5s per lb, its highest value since 5s 9d was paid In 1912. Transactions were recorded up to 5s 3d. Closing quotations for tin to-day rose to £1032 10s a ton for spot and £993 10s for forward. Rubber hat advanced steadily from 15d per lb last January, stimulated by Government stockpiling purchases to safeguard strategic materials, and by the insistent pressure of industrial demand for immediate supplies.