Wool Prices Tend To Ease; Inquiry Good

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31187, 11 October 1966, Page 20

Wool Prices Tend To Ease; Inquiry Good

Although still easing back slightly, fine wools still continued to sell reasonably well at the second Christchurch wool sale of the 1966-67 season held at the Wool Exchange at Addington yesterday.

All but the best halfbred wools were quoted as being up to 2} per cent cheaper than at the recent Dunedin sale, but most of the fine-wool selection still sold at better - than 50d a pound.

Hou aver, since the last Christchurch sale at the end of August, the fine-wool market has been declining and prices yesterday were generally 4d to 5d per lb easier. They were still, however, 2d to 3d per lb in excess of rates ruling for halfbred and Merino wool in October last year. Compared with the Christchurch sale in August, the finer crossbreds also looked to have lost ground slightly by some 2d to 3d per lb, but medium and strong crossbred) wools met a relatively good | sale, and were little different! from August rates. But compared with October, 1965, crossbred wool appeared to be ■ cheaper by 6d to 7d per lb. On recent Dunedin rates thre-quarters and fine cross-1 breds were considered to bej slightly back, with medium! and coarser sorts selling | firmly. i While inferior wools and oddments, particularly crossbred crutchings, had a rather difficult day, there was a reasonably good clearance, and observers thought that competition was better than at recent sales. Continental : buyers were operating freely and Eastern Europe and Japan also reported to be active. Passings during the day amounted to 1620 bales or about i 7 per cent of the offering. This compared with nearly 2700 bales • passed, or 12.8 per cent of the I offering at the last sale in i August. Commission Active The Wool Commission was more active than for some time in Christchurch. It placed its floor-price bid on some 206 lots and had 252 bales passed to its bid Most of this wool consisted of oddments, mainly crossbred crutchings, and there was also a small quantity of crossbred fleece. The commission frequently exerted a stimulating influence on the market, and there were cases where buyers raised their offers by many pence after the commission had placed its bid. Where lines tended to be neglected and buyers made nominal bids, vendors benefitted markedly from the operations of the commission. In one such case a lot of sandy lambs’ wool attracted an offer of only 12d per lb from the bench, the commission came in with a bid of 20jd. A preliminary estimate given last evening puts the average price for the sale at about 41d to 42d per lb, which would be about Sid per lb or 8 per cent down on the corresponding sale last season. Big Part Halfbred and Corriedale fleeces formed a considerable part of the offering and this sold mainly from about 52d to 57d, with a few top lines making to 64$d for halfbred and 61id for Corriedale. The finer qualities were making from 53d to about 64d, medium qualities from 49d to 56d, and stronger sorts from 46d to 55d. In August the main weight of these wools was bringing from about 56d to 62d, and a year ago from 50d to 55d. There was only a light offering of Merino wool and it sold at rates similar to those ruling in August, with sales falling mainly between about 53d and 57d, but with an odd lot reaching to 64d. Crossbred wools were selling mainly from about 40d to 47d, out this was not very different from rates ruling in August, but was well below the range of 48d to 53d for average to good wools a year ago. The finer crossbreds were making from 42d to about 54d, with an odd exceptional sale to 60d medium crossbred from 39d to 47d and coarser crossbreds from 37d to 42d. Second-shear crossbred wools ranged from about 39d to 44d. Fine-wool necks ranged from 40d to 53d, coarser necks from 40d to 50d; fine-wool pieces from 4Xd to 495, with coarser pieces from 28d to 39d; finewool bellies 28d to 43d, and coarser 25d to 31d; and finewool crutchings 25d to 32d, with coarser sorts at 21d to 50d. The offering consisted of 22,984 bales drawn mainly from Mid and North Canterbury and Marlborough, with a limited quantity from Nelson, the West Coast and the Chatham Islands. Wools were generally well grown and bulky, and the feature of the selection was the hogget wool, which was considered to be some of the best seen at the Christchurch centre. Leading Prices The top price of the sale was for three bales of extra fine halfbred wool among the binned entry of Dalgety and' New Zealand Loan, Ltd. The New Zealand Farmers’ Co-operative: Association also had binned wool at and 62$d. T. H. Donaldson (Ashburton) had six bales at 63d. and A. T. Stone (Hororata) had four bales at Slid and five bales at 60|d. T. H Stone (Hororata) received 60d for five bales, and J. R. Murray (Kaikoura) had five bales at 60{d. Sales at 59|d were made by L. A. Prouting (West Melton) for nine bales, J. L. Rutherford (Culverden) for six bales, E. W. Feary and Company (Oxford) for 11 bales, and Gerard and Murray Aynsley (Hororata) for 17 bales.

The leading price for Corriedale wool was Slid for nine bales of hogget wool from D. Grigg (Culverden). R. B. Coppard (Hororata) received Bld for 11 bales and H. Fitzsimmons (Cheviot) had eight bales at 59Jd. Sales at SSjd w-ere made by J. G. Lili (Kirwee) for 12 bales, and by O. L. and H. H. Davies. Ltd. (Walau) for 10 bales. The Wafpara Downs Trust (Amberley) bad 10 bales at 58Jd and J. Fitzsimmons (Cheviot) sold seven bales at SSid. Merino wool sold to 64d for three bales from J. R. Todhunter (Methven). The same vendor had four bales at 62d and four bales at 59d. The New Zealand Farmers-’ Co-operative Association had a s'ingie bale of binned wool at BSid. Glynn Wye Station (Lewis Pass) had four bales at 61id and four bales at 61d. J. B. Ensor (Blenheim) realised 60id for five bales and 60d for another five bales, and 60d was also paid to A. F. S. Rutherford (Culverden) for three bales. W. A. Foster (Parnassus) had one of the best sales of threequarterbred wool with six bales

at 59Sd. A. J. Duncan (Darfield) sold 12 bales at 561 d and K. M. Poppleweli (Walau), had 10 bales at 58d. H. T. Grigg (Culverden) sold six bales at 561 d, C. E. Hunt (Hororata) had seven bales at 55Jd. C. H. Gallagher (Ashburton) 12 at 55id, and the

Lands and Survey Department i ‘Cheddar Valley) realised 55d for 29 bales. Menzies and Menzies (Little River) headed the crossbred section with a sale of four bales of superfine crossbred wool at 60Fd. Birch Hill Station (Ox ford), had seven bales at 58d. R. F. G. Latter (Kaikoura). sold four bales at 57|d and T. P. Shand and Sons (Kaikoura) had 12 bales at 57$d. R. W. Lovett (Ashburton) sold five bales at 56|d and for six bales of Romney wool D, Deans and Sons (Darfield) received 56<d. The

estate C. J. Aitken (Kaikoura) had 16 bales at 55|d. and W. F Gerard ‘Hororata), sold seven bales at 551 d Second-shear crossbred woo’, sold to 52|d for three bales of binned won! in the catalogue of Dalgety and New Zealand Loan.' Ltd., and the same firm had two bales of second-shear halfbred wool at 47d. For five bales of Down hogget wool, the New Zealand Farmers Co-operative Association received 55Ad and for three bales of Down cross 551 d. Dalgety and New Zealand Loan. Ltd., were also paid 55d for two bales of Down cross wool. Details of catalogues and order of sale were:

Bales Pyne. Gould. Guinness Ltd. 7.210 National Mortgage and Agency Company Ltd. 5.376 New Zealand Farmers’ Cooperative Association of Canterbury. Ltd 2.SOO Dalgety and New Zealand Loan. Ltd. .. 7.59S Total 22.9S4