Wool Board Seeks End To Licensing

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30399, 25 March 1964, Page 16

Wool Board Seeks End To Licensing

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 24. A call for the abolition of import licensing on woollen piece-goods for protective purposes after 1966-67 was made by the New Zealand Wool Board in submission to the Tariff and Development Board inquiry into wool and synthetics today.

The Wool Board submitted that over the last eight years, before reintroduction of licensing in 1956, imports were high and local production rose. It expressed concern at a decline in the use of wool in New Zealand and noted that a “severe” reduction in imported yardage in the last three years was paralleled by declining local production. It urged the elimination of “disabilities placed on wool products” to allow wool to compete equally with other fibres. The Wool Board asked that the licence allocation for piecegoods containing wool be increased by a million square yards in the years 1966-67, allowing imports to rise progressively to six million square yards. It also recommended that wool fabrics or types not produced in volume in New Zea-

land be exempt from tariff and licensing policies designed to protect the industry. Future Prices “The Wool Board regards the outcome of this inquiry as having a direct and measurable effect on the prices at which the New Zealand wool clip will be sold in the future." said the submissions.

The wool usage per head of population in New Zealand had declined since 1954-55 tn a much greater degree than it had in most other countries with comparable living conditions and climates. Consumers demand for wool had been denied satisfactory supplies, and local production had been inadequate. While woven wool fabrics were being withdrawn from the market, the availability of alternative or substitute material was not restricted. There had been no incentive for the trade to promote wool as a fibre over recent years because of the lack of availability. The relative price which locally-produced wool textile i piece-goods were offered on the New Zealand market compared unfavourably with the pyice of competitive non-wool fabrics. “Fabrics containing wool bear customs duties of 22] per cent British preferential or 421 per cent most favoured nation, while most alternative fabrics enter duty-free from British sources. Consumer Prices “When normal trade margins are applied to the duty element in wholesale and retail costs, the price the consumer pays for wool cloth—imported from the United Kingdom for instance—includes about 40 per cent for this factor. “There is a similar, if not a greater, element of extra cost in the retail price of woven and knitted garments manufactured from imported fabric or yarn.” The submissions said the local industry had demonstrated it could command onethird of the market under current rates, and the wool board considered that any increase in rates was neither justified nor necessary.