NEW ROSTER FOR WOOL SALES

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29384, 10 December 1960, Page 8

NEW ROSTER FOR WOOL SALES

Better Spread Of

Offerings

The decision of the Wool Auction Sales Committee to introduce a system of wool sales at 28-day intervals at the main selling centres in New Zealand in the 1963-64 season is calculated to be an important step forward in the orderly marketing of New Zealand’s growing wool clip. Under the proposed system of having two sales in each island week about —in the South Island on Thursday and Monday and then in the North Island on the following Thursday and Monday and so on—it will mean that buyers will be offered a greater variety of wool more frequently.

It has, of course, for a long time now been recognised that a radical change in the selling roster would have to be made. In the lest 30 years the quantity of wool 'sold at auction in New Zealand has increased almost threefold. Sales have been growing steadily bigger and while these quantities have been handled in stores and at sales with considerable expedition, the expansion of the clip has created very real problems, not the least of which has been the shipping of such big offerings as the 60,000 bales put up in Christchurch last February. Not Final Yet While the Wool Auction Sales Committee, which comprises representatives of brokers, buyers, the Wool Board, and the Wool Commission, with shipping interests also present in an advisory capacity, has announced its intention of introducing the new roster three seasons hence, the exact form it will take has not yet been finally fixed. Changes in the shearing pattern could necessitate alterations in the duration of the season. Thus this year Dunedin had enough wool to hand for its October sale by September 20.

Presuming the season is no longer than at present when the new roster begins to operate, about as much wool will be sold in Christchurch before Christmas as is now the case—it could be a little more. The general indications are that under the new pattern more wool will be sold in the North Island before Christmas than at present, but there will be no more, and possibly somewhat less, in the South Island. Whereas at present Auckland and Wellington have one main sale only before Christmas and Napier a two-day sale, the main northern centres would probably have three sales each by early in January under the new roster. Timaru will have about five sales during the season. Under these arrangements more North Island wool than in the past will come on the market in the early part of the season. The over-all position for the country seems to be while more wool will be offered in November and December than in the past less will be put up in January and February, but the over-all result will be about the same. In other words the wool will not be sold any quicker but there will be a better spread. Will this rationalisation of sales make work easier in the stores? A man well versed in wool handling believes it will not make it any easier. There will still be the same amount of wool to handle in the same time with the difference that twice as many sales will have to be put up. It could mean that some stores will want more storage space. From a shipping point of view the change could be advantageous. It may be easier to service

But if the main season extends from October to June as at present, with the winter sales in addition, it is likely that there will be eight or nine sales in each of the main centres—that is at Auckland, Napier, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, and InvercargiU. At the beginning and towards the end of the season, double sales or combined sales may be necessary, but the general intention is that sales should be of one day’s duration with an offering of about 25,000 bales Except where holidays intervene the frequency will be close to 28 days. , In a sense Christchurch has been the testing ground for the practicability of holding sales of this frequency. Here a 31,000bale sale is held at the end of October and beginning of November, and another sale of 33,000 bales is held a little more than a month later in early December. This has shown that it can be done, but at that stage of the season conditions in Christchurch are relatively favourable for brokers to do this. In November about as much wool is going out of store from the earlier sale as is coming in from growers. Soon afterwards, however, the great weight of the province’s wool is coming into store and at that stage there could be a storage problem. The bulk of shearing, apart from prelamb and double shearing and late shearing in the high country, is done in November and December.

a 25.000-bale sale once a month than a 50.000-bale sale once every two months. The smaller quantities available may fit better into mixed cargoes. The new roster is not being introduced until 1963 to give buyers time to train new staff to cope with the more frequent sales. It is reckoned that the series of sales under the new roster can be handled by “a team and a half.’* Thus in the case of big buying firms it will be necessary for part of their teams to leave one island between the two sales there to begin valuing in the other island in preparation for the next sale in that part of the country. The roster has been based on air travel and the principal of a small buying firm should actually be able to attend all sales and do such valuation as is necessary, but his schedule will, naturally, be a pretty tight one. Limit On Lots To enable sales to finish in good Jime to fit in with air services and to facilitate valuing it is proposed that the 25,000-bale sales should be .contained in 2600 lots. In centres such as Christchurch. where diverse types of wool are on offer, restriction of lots to this level could constitute something of a problem, but it is believed brokers will be able to overcome it. The new roster will mean that some growers will receive their returns earlier, while others should receive theirs about the same time as in the past-

An interesting problem is raised by the more frequent sales. In some centres where important public buildings, like town halls, are engaged for sales it is expected that it may be difficult to book them for double the number of sales a year. This has raised the need for wool exchanges built specially for wool selling. The New Zealand Wool Brokers* Association has been thinking of this for about two years and has gone to the extent of having sketch plans drawn of a prototype exchange. This includes a tiered buying and public gallery with accommodation for about 100 buyers and 200 members of the public. Underneath there would be refreshment rooms, offices for buyers and brokers, and telephone and cable facilities. Key Point The economics of these buildings is a key issue. Thought has to be given to how best they can be utilised in the 350 or more days a year when they are not in use for wool sales. In some centres it might be possible to incorporate them in an office block which can be let. It is also desirable that they be situated where there is parking accommodation, close to postal facilities and also to airports when air travel is an integral part of the arrangements for more frequent sales. In Christchurch the need for such a building is not so pressing as in some other parts of the country.

It is obvious that the Wool Auction Sales Committee has given very close thought to the whole problem and it seems that the sort of roster now proposed will be in the interests of growers and the country as a whole which depends for a good measure of its prosperity on the fortunes of wool.

Wool Prices The average return for the third Christchurch wool sale held this week may be 2d to 3d per lb better than the October-November sale in this centre. But that is, unhappily, still about 4Jd per lb below the same sale last year. Late this week information came to hand that for 7634 bales offered on Monday the average was 41.87 d. Wool offered by the same firm in the October-November sale averaged 39.4 d. However, the average for all Christchurch wool sold at that sale was 38.7 d.