Wool Outlook “By No Means Gloomy”

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28463, 18 December 1957, Page 19

Wool Outlook “By No Means Gloomy”

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.J

LONDON, December 17.

Although wool prices have recently shown a declining tendency, Mr M. W. W. Early, president of the British Wool Federation, writing in the “Financial News,” suggests the future outlook is by no means gloomy. He says it is likely that world production, excluding Soviet Russia, will turn out to be less for the 1957-58 season than for last season. So far this season the South American market has not yet got into its stride, the United Kingdom has bought only moderately, the United States very little and the Continent of Europe probably about the usual quantity.

Japan’s Buying Maintained In spite of currency difficulties, Japan appears to have bought fully as much as during the corresponding period of last year. In the* United Kingdom the increased bank rate has added to the difficulties of Bradford wool importers by making financing of the wool pipeline more expensive. “In circumstances which have obtained in recent months there has been a tendency at all stages to keep stock and purchase commitments down as much as possible. While this has caused a diminution of buying and of some activity, it has set the stage for a healthy recovery when the upturn comes. Uncertain Business Outlook “The international business outlook is too uncertain to allow for any forecast of the probable course of the wool market during' the early months of 1958. Notwith-

standing this period of uncertainty, it cannot be said that wool is burdened by the problem of surplus production. “The recent decline in prices has made wool appear very reasonably priced in relation to other commodities, and in particular to those man-made fibres which are its direct competitors. "Any reliable sign of more healthy world business conditions would seem sure to find an immediate response in wool trading,” says Mr Early.