LONDON WOOL SALES

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28604, 5 June 1958, Page 17

LONDON WOOL SALES

Heavy Buying By France

Heavy buying by French woollen mills at the recent series of London auctions was a major factor in the improvement in prices that took place during the second week of the sales. There was a similar development overseas, and it is assumed that it arose from a desire on the part of the French mills to augment stocks in view of the" political and economic disturbances. In reviewing the sales, the London office of the Bank of New Zealand said that the series ended on a much livelier note than was first thought possible, and prices for most descriptions closed above the opening rates. In the case of greasy crossbreds from New Zealand prices at the close were 2$ per cent, better than they were at the start, when the market was depressed as a result of dull trading in the consuming centres. Of the total of 62,235 bales offered -t the series, 51,000 were sold, the home trade taking an estimated 35,000 bales and the remainder going to the Continent, except for 2200 bales sold to the New Zealand Wool Commission. The market in London is waiting to see whether the recent upturn in prices is a genuine movement. The next series of London sales, starting in the first fortnight in July, will settle this point.

In the meantime the wool futures market is recovering from its low point as some speculative buying has developed, probably as a hedge against possible devaluation of the French franc.