N.Z. Average Wool Price Slowly Rising

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30943, 27 December 1965, Page 11

N.Z. Average Wool Price Slowly Rising

The average of wool values in New Zealand this season has been slowly rising, whereas last season it was dropping. However, the average price at December 10, at 43jd per lb, was 3Jd down on the figure at the same stage last season.

A Wool Board report on the market says that up to the Napier sale on December 10 the average was 43}d, compared with 43d on November 9 and 41|d on October 15. At that time last year prices were falling. On December 9, 1964, the average was 46Jd, and on November 10 it was 48{d, the same level as on October 15. The contrast, the Wool Board statement says, gives grounds for optimism this season. Should present market levels be maintained for a further month it is likely that this year’s final average will be slightly higher than last year’s 42.1 d. “In official circles it is pointed out thait the weight of wool sold at New Zealand auctions before Christmas — 524,445 bales up to December 12 this year, compared with 465,954 bales a year ago —exerts considerable influence on the final outcome. It is stated that a fairly violent price fall would be required to alter radically the present season’s average.”

“Grounds for Optimism”

The board refers to news of bitter weather in the Northern Hemisphere and favourable market reports from the United States as providing grounds for optimism that

this season’s average will be better than last year’s. New Zealand exports of carpet wools to the United States in the first 10 months of this year are 6 per cent above those of the same period of last year. A Bradford correspondent reports that trading in wool continues to be difficult because of the economic and financial problems which confront many of the main customer countries. The net effect is to cause most users to rely on minimum imports and stocks.

“If the present good rate of clearance of wool can be maintained when large sections of the world wool textile industry are struggling in conditions which leave much to be desired, it is encouraging to reflect on the improvement which might reasonably be expected if world wool consumption were to return to more normal levels,” he says. The correspondent adds that Britain and parts of the Continent have already experienced conditions which threaten to develop into a severe winter in the Northern Hemisphere and this is already stimulating retail sales of woollen goods. This could bring welcome repeat orders to mills and could conceivably pave the way to a brighter start in 1966.