“High Prices Damaged Wool Industry”

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31060, 16 May 1966, Page 10

“High Prices Damaged Wool Industry”

In a period of high wool prices in New Zealand, the Americans had turned to synthetic fibres and he thought that this had done more damage to New Zealand’s wool industry than anything that had happened in the previous 20 years or so, Mr D. Stewart, wool officer at the head office of the National Mortgage and Agency Company, Ltd., in Dunedin, told the South Island Wool Association’s annual conference at Lincoln College.

Mr Stewart was a member of a three-

man survey group sent overseas recently by the New Zealand Woolbrokers’ Association, to find out what happends to New Zealand’s wool clip.

In Dalton in Georgia, which was the centre of the tufted carpet industry, it had been found that very little wool was used, and little blending was done. Some mill managers had said that they preferred wool but the cost was the problem. The cost of setting-up for synthetic carpet production would be only about a third of that for wool carpets, said Mr Stewart.

The use of synthetic carpets was the subject of intensive promotion and as a result manufacturers were possibly making bigger profits out of these carpets. In the course of their travels in 12 countries, Mr Stewart said, they had had “their first real meeting with synthetics” in the United States.

The United States carpet industry produced about 300 m square yards of carpet a year, compared with 90m square yards in the United Kingdom and 60m square yards on the Continent. Big Producer

On the basis of talks with the Boston Importers’ Association about New Zealand wool, Mr Stewart said that the main problem appeared to be length. There had also been a request for some sorting of second-shear wools up to B and C grades. There were some complaints about wool from certain centres not being properly prepared and of a mixture of some types, but it was possible that buyers had made some blends.

In Japan the group had talks with the Importers’ As- ' sociation. In general, he said, they supported the auction system and were not interested in other selling in New Zealand. They also liked to finance their own purchases. The feeling was that synthetic fibre prices would keep a ceiling on wool prices. The Japanese had also been concerned about the length problem and would like to see it handled better. They were not much interested in group lots. A principal of a big manufacturing firm in Italy has said that there should be some method of controlling violent fluctuations in price, but he had had no idea how this could be worked. This had been a common feeling of manufacturers. Wool Packs In Japan the group came in touch with polypropylene wool packs, which Mr Stewart said could be made for 12s or 13s each. They weighed only 31b, and from a freight point of view this might be important. This pack had

been accepted by the Australian Wool Board and it might also be seen in New Zealand. Because it took a third of Australia’s wool, Japan was in a position to bring some pressure on Australia to use this sort of pack, he said. South Africa, he said, was moving into paper packs and these seemed to stand up to wear and tear pretty well. From what they had heard, South Africa was highly regarded for the preparation of its clip. Every bale carried a length and quality symbol

and, like Australia, it had a system of registering classers. The average farmer in South Africa seemed to be almost over-serviced,, with 280 persons on the road for the sole purpose of helping him to prepare his clip and select his sheep. In Australia each classer had a number and Mr Stewart said it seemed this had effected an over-all improvement in the classing of wool.

While in Australia the group visited a ground floor type wool store with 26 acres under the one roof.