Importance Of Wool Secretariat

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30952, 7 January 1966, Page 8

Importance Of Wool Secretariat

If the International Wool Secretariat fails in its attempt to convince the world’s consumers that they can afford to pay a little more for a virgin wool garment than for the same garment in synthetic fibre, the very survival of the woolgrowing industries of New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa may be at stake.

This prediction is made by a New Zealand author, Mr R. J. Anderson, in “On the Sheep’s Back”—a 70,000-word book on the wool industry commissioned by a Melbourne publisher. Mr Anderson, who is visiting Christchurch for the first time since 1957, wrote the book in Australia, and completed it this week in Christchurch. It will be published in paper-back form in June, and then in hard covers. The book was commissioned by Sun Books Proprietary, Ltd., of Melbourne. Work In Australia Mr Anderson has been associated with the Australian wool industry for 10 years, mostly as a specialist writer on food and agriculture for the Melbourne “Herald,” the “Bulletin,” and other Australian journals. He said yesterday that wool’s chances of retaining a substantial share of the world fibre market rested largely on

the efforts of the International Wool Secretariat, the wool-pro-motion body in which New Zealand, Australia and South Africa are partners. “Its aim is to give wool a quality image,” he said. “By this the I.W.S. means to convince people that they can afford to pay a little more for a virgin wool garment than for a comparable one of a synthetic fibre. It seeks to do this, not just with ballyhoo, but by guaranteeing wool’s customers a quality product. “If I.W.S. Fails . . “If the I.W.S. fails in its attempt—and success cannot be guaranteed—then wool will soon have to compete with man-made fibres on price alone. If this happens, the woolgrowing industries of New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa will face a bitter period of contraction, rationalisation, and readjustment. If the worst comes to the worst, their very survival may be at stake.”

Mr Anderson said that even if the secretariat were successful and wool retained a significant share of the rapidlyexpanding world market for apparel fibres, the woolgrowing industries of the three countries still faced the problem of the cost-price squeeze —rising production costs together with falling wool prices.

“This strangle-hold is growing tighter every year,” said Mr Anderson. “As a result, woolgrowing is in grave danger of becoming an uneconomic proposition on all but a minority of properties. “If this happens, and there is a distinct possibility that it will if woolgrowers cannot achieve substantial lifts in productivity, then woolgrowing will be finished as a major export-based primary industry.” Australia’s Importance

Mr Anderson emphasised that he was speaking with the Australian wool industry principally in mind —but as Australia owned one-sixth of the world’s sheep, produced 47 per cent of the wool entering world trade, 31 per cent of the world’s greasy wool, and 54 per cent of the world’s Merino

wool, the fate of the Australian wool industry must have a profound significance for New Zealand's wool industry. He said he thought that New Zealand had played a vital role in the almost revolutionary changes during the last five years in the wool industry’s attitude to its customers and to its own future.

“Australia may have initiated most of the changes,” he said, “but without New Zealand’s ready co-operation and support many of them would never have got past the stumbling-block presented by a conservative, divided, and often apathetic mass of 100,000 Australian woolgrowers.” He said that the rejection of a reserve-price scheme by Australian growers last month might have a lasting impact on wool’s chances of surviving as a major apparel fibre. The vote was not only against the scheme itself: it was a vote of no-confidence in the leaders of the Australian wool industry. “It has thrown away the one thing wool cannot afford to sacrifice at this stage—time.”

Mr Anderson said that four facts basic to any assessment of wool’s prospects were that no substantial long-term rise in wool prices was likely, wool production costs would continue to rise, synthetic fibre prices were likely to continue their decline as production and competition increased, and it would not be many years before man-made fibres were available to replace wool in virtually every one of its present end uses. “Will Have To Fight” “Wool will have to fight every inch of the way if it is to retain anything like its present 9 per cent share of the world apparel fibre market,” he said. “It is a fact that before many years are past it will be impossible to grow wool economically at the price at which competing man-made fibres will sell.” Mr Anderson said, however, that he thought wool growing could survive as a major export-based primary industry in Australia and New Zealand for many years, perhaps until

the turn of the century or after.

“But this can happen only if wool growers realise now the serious nature of the problems facing them, and act swiftly, decisively and successfully to overcome them,” he said, “This, in Australia’s case at least, is a very big ‘if.’ ” Book On Asia Mr Anderson is thinking of writing another book, this time about development problems in Asia, taking India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nepal as examples. It would deal mainly with food and population pressures. For two years he collected material for it on a 75,000mile journey through Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, during which he wrote some 400 articles which appeared in newspapers and magazines in more than a dozen countries, including New Zealand.

He returned to Christchurch to visit his mother, Mrs M. Anderson, of Aylesford street, Shirley, and plans to return to Melbourne next month.