FIRST AUSTRALIAN WOOL SALE OF 1956-57 TODAY

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28057, 27 August 1956, Page 15

FIRST AUSTRALIAN WOOL SALE OF 1956-57 TODAY

The first Australian wool sale of the 1956-57 auction season will open at Sydney today. The sale which was to have been held at Melbourne has been cancelled because the continued wet weather in Victoria has delayed shearing.

Trade authorities expect the first sales of the season to open at prices fully equal to the closing rates of last season, according to the “Australian Financial Review.” World wool consumption is running slightly ahead of production and the outlook is “steady to firm,” in trade forecasts. Australian production for 1956-57 is again expected to be a record. The first official estimate set the new year’s total at 1480 m lb greasy, or 66m lb above last year, but growers and brokers say the figure will be reduced because of this year’s floods. The effects of the floods over an area which contains almost half the Australian sheep flock may not be fully felt until next year. Last season’s prices were reduced from 70d greasy in June 1955 to 65d a year later, with an all-round year’s average of 61.7 d against 71.2 d in 1954-55. Record quantities received into store prevented the wool cheque from falling bv more than £ 18.8 m to £ 333.9 m. Further records in the new

1956-57 season can again be expected to offset any easing in prices, on an optimistic view by a wool trade authority this week. World Demand Statistically, the world wool position is sound, although actual prices must depend on the buying pressure of Australia’s principal customers. The four most important customers are now the United Kingdom. Japan. France and Italy in that order. The United States is now well down the list. Japan provided most of the buying incentive towards the end of last season, when prices tended to firm and even edge up. The United Kingdom in the first six months of 1956 consumed wool at a slightly lower level than in the corresponding six months of 1955. This was caused by the decline in the woollen section, worsteds in fact moving up. Export of British wool yarn for the first three months of 1956 was up by 17 p.c. France rose by 9 p.c. and Italy by 121 p.c. Wool yarns are elose to the end product and give a fair indication of market trends. Total exports of wool yarn of the nine principal exporting countries were 11 p.c. higher in the March quarter this year over last.