Case For Core-Testing Of Wool

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31363, 8 May 1967, Page 21

Case For Core-Testing Of Wool

(By TOM CONNORS in the "Australian Financial Review”) (Reprinted by arrangement)

While various farm organisations argue and procrastinate about wool marketing schemes, Australian scientists are quietly at work improving methods that test objectively the quality of greasy wool a factor which could force some organisation on the industry.

Objective appraisal of wool by sampling and core-testing is increasing by 60,000 bales a year and now covers 15 per cent of the Australian clip.

Two-thirds of the tests are done in Australia and the rest overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom. Nearly all tests so far have been carried out after auction by woolbuyers, either on their own initiative or on instruction from overseas processors. Handling On Stores But growers are also becoming interested in a precise estimate of the quality of their clip and if there is a strong movement toward preauction testing then some radical changes could be sought in the present methods of receiving, handling and displaying wool in brokers’ stores.

The problems of testing objectively the clip under the present auction system are not insurmountable but they would be fewer under a wool authority set up to control marketing. The burgeoning synthetic fibres industry is forcing coretesting on wool as only by this method can wool be described to a processor in terms similar to those in which he is offered other fibres. Factory-produced synthetic fibres carry a simple description showing suitability for types of processing, fineness, length and weight. The purchaser can thus obtain within limits a fairly exact commodity from an industry accustomed to producing large amounts to uniform quality. Variations In Wool Wool is contaminated with grease from the sweat glands as well as by dirt and vegetable matter picked up outside the skin.

It can also be damaged by sunlight, agricultural chemicals or biological agents. In addition, sheeps’ follicles are more variable in size than the spineret holes and pumps used by synthetic fibre manufacturers to determine fineness. The Australian Wool Board lists about 3000 types of wool classified by length and fineness g£ fleece with subdivisions oy types of faults in the wool. However, there are more than 3000 types if account is taken of the preference shown consistently by buyers for wool from a particular district over a similar grade of wool from elsewhere. This vast range of wool types has been put forward

as an argument against the introduction of a reserve price scheme for wool. It is part of this mystique of the present system.

A price has to be set against the various wools and changes made when demand for a particular type fluctuates.

It is certainly a problem but individual prices have been set both by the Wool Commissions in South Africa and New Zealand and in the early post-war years by U.K.Dominions Wool Disposals, Ltd., which cleared surplus stocks of Commonwealth wool, accumulated during the war without affecting normal clip sales. This was, however, during a period of rising prices. Reduction Of Types j Core-testing, if adopted universally, would weaken the argument against reserve price schemes by reducing the 3000 or so types which some experts claim have resulted from over-classifica-tion due to lack of knowledge of the properties of wool. We may eventually end up with a smaller range of wool types measured by yields moving marginally up and down a scale. Core-testing can give an on-the-spot assessment of wool quality and eliminate guesswork. With core-testing a tube is injected into a bale to extract samples of wool. A laboratory test is then made to estimate the percentage of clean wool, or the yield.

From the yield the amount of top and noil the processer can expect to produce is calculated after making allowance for the dirt and vegetable matter (mainly burrs) present in the wool. Samples can also be tested for fineness and length but there is little demand for the latter as buyers are fairly accurate in estimating length. Yield Certificate With the completion of the laboratory tests and the calculations it is possible to produce a yield certificate such as the one issued issued by the Australian Wool Testing Authority, an organisation controlled by the Australian Wool Board.

Like other approved testing houses it works under procedures decided at meetings of the International Wool Textile Organisation and its yield certificates are generally accepted by the trade. As yet there is no widely accepted test for fineness but scientists are confident that one will be available before long. In visual assessment fineness of wool is usually gauged by crimps per inch.

But there is substantial evidence that it is fibre diameter rather than crimps per inch which is important. The average diameter associated with crimps per inch may vary considerably with the age, the environment and strain of sheep. This, together with the fact that there is no international standard relating fineness to

quality number, is probably responsible for the increasing demand for objective measurement of mean fibre diameter of raw wool consignments.

Objective testing, particularly in the pre-auction stage, could overcome problems of bale weight changes due to moisture and help to remove the discrimination of buyers against bulk-classed and blended wools.

It is also apparent that it should assist in more effective interlotting of bales, in helping buyers make uniform lines and would eliminate the difficulty of assessing the yield of dusty and sandy wools. Duty Rate The United States began core-testing imported wool as early as 1937 to determine the duty rate on the clean yield of greasy wool so that importers could avoid duty payments on unwanted matter such as dirt and burrs.

Commercial testing commenced in Australia after the development in 1960, by the C.5.1.R.0. Division of Textile Physics, of a new method called pressure-testing. Before this the coring tube was driven into the bale by an electric drill. The new method is hand-operated and therefore more convenient, resulting in wide adoption in Australia and overseas.

Hand-pressure coring was achieved by a careful study of tip design and ways to sharpen the tip to a keen edge. The accuracy of core-testing, however, is only as good as the sample taken and the C.5.1.K.0. is undertaking further research on sampling and also on the diameter of the tube. Fewer and more accurate samples could reduce the cost of core-testing. The impetus for postauction testing has mainly come from two sectors of the industry. First—mills are keener to get the precise range of wool they order especially as competion from clothing manufacturers using other fibres is now fierce. In the past they were less concerned. Advantages result from the fact that the comber does not have to comb individual consignments to obtain separate top and noil yields, a process which could leave him With tops different from his standard lines which he then has to regill at additional expense.

Then there is the buyer whose profit margin has fallen along with the downward trend in wool prices and who now works on a pretty small margin. Buyers’ Examination Under the present system of selling, wool bales from various lots are opened on the showroom floor for visual inspection by buyers. Before the auction, wool from each bale will be handled by about 20 prospective bidders who make their own assessment of yield, fineness and length. In sampling raw wool by hand there is a limit to how far the hand can be thrust into the bale through a slit cut in the pack—the centre is almost inaccessible unless the bale is pulled to pieces. A coring tool can penetrate to all parts of the bale. The accuracy of the buyer’s estimate is not known until processing begins in the mill. If the buyer estimates wrongly on the spinning performance of the wool he buys as an agent then there could be a substantial underyield claim against him. Claims on buyers are frequent and at times against his knowledge that some mills are not efficient in assessing quality.

When buyers have wool tested on their own initiative it is to get an accurate idea of their financial situation vis-a-vis the overseas companies. Form Of Insurance The yield certificate is a form of insurance against claims against the buyer and also allows the buyer to arrange wool by precise class in consignments for overseas shipments. . It has been the practice for some time for all wool purchases through the Sydney

Wool Futures Exchange to be core-tested before delivery. As yet woolgrowers have requested little core-testing but they are becoming more concerned that it is just as likely that buyers will underestimate wool as that they will overestimate it. The odd growers who have in the past had their wool tested before auction found the yield certificate ignored by buyers. The buyer quite naturally feels that pre-auction testing could be the thin edge of the wedge that lessens the value of his skills.

Some large growers, however, maintain that if they were to core-test large lots and send the certificates to all the major buyers there could be a break-through as it could be hard for them to bypass a good clip. Cost To Grower Testing is an extra cost on the grower and some argument could arise if they attempted to shift this cost further up the line. The idea of core-testing may be sold to the grower in the initial stages on educational grounds. For a small cost he can discover for the first time, the yield and fibre diameter of the product he may have grown for many years. He is not advised of the results of any post-auction testing arranged by buyers or carried out in the mills.

Charges for tests by the Australian Wool Testing Authority are based on a fixed price of $lO plus 35 cents per bale for each bale in the lot.

The charge per bale therefore drops as the lot size increases; for example for a five bale lot it will be $2.35 a bale and for a 20-bale lot it will be 85c a bale. The woolbuyer undertakes core-testing when he has arranged his shipping consignment in lots of around 40 to 100 bales so testing per bale is fairly cheap. Many Difficulties The average lot size reaching brokers’ stores, however, is only four bales, making the pre-auction testing an expensive proposition unless the present system were altered so bales from various growers were interlotted into bigger lots. Besides the expense, preauction core-testing presents many difficulties. As shearing proceeds on the property wool is tranported in small lots to the broker and some time can elapse before the full consignment is on hand.

To take an accurate sample the total number of bales should be grouped, otherwise each bale would have to be tested as it arrived, making the cost prohibitive. Gathering a full consignment together for testing would add to handling costs and substantial areas of space would have to be set aside in the stores.

There would also be a slowdown in the movement of wool on to the auction floor.

There are, however, some economies to be gained if wool is set aside on arrival so that the complete lot is stacked before weighing instead of being weighed as it arrives. , As the system now works the dispersed weighed wool has to be restacked inside the store before sale.

Before the wool is weighed appears the most logical time for sampling and testing. Brokers certainly have some legitimate fears about testing, but the view is that it is a growing feature of the wool industry and it would not be surprising if they eventually took an active part in testing thus adding another service to their range. Laboratories employing scientists alongside each store could be expensive unless they worked consistently at full pace. A way round this would be for various brokers in each large wool selling centre to co-operate in setting up a large single laboratory to handle all testing. Reducing Costs The price of testing, while fairly high at present, could fall as an increase in the amount of work performed brought economies of scale. In addition the work now being done by the C.S.J.R.O. Division of Textile Physics on sampling methods and testing equipment could help reduce high costs. The interest of commercial organisations in core-testing is regarded as a sound indication that demand is expected to increase sharply. The Australian Wool Testing Authority was alone in the field until a couple of years ago when Services Ltd. began flying samples to London for testing on behalf of Australian buyers. The firm could eventually establish a large laboratory in Australia to supplement the small one it operates at Fremantle which does only a small number of tests on greasy wool. British Interest Another large British concern is reported to be interested in setting up a testing laboratory in Australia. The U.K. firms evidently want to get in on the ground floor before any substantial expansion gets under way. The only Australian testing house, Australian Development Clearing House Pty. Ltd., commenced greasy testing about eight months ago. While there is nothing new about core-testing the worsening competitive position of wool against other fibres is forcing it on the industry. Modern mass production techniques depend heavily on the precise and reliable specification of raw material to maintain standard running conditions.

The predictability and uniformity of synthetic materials has a strong appeal from this point of view. With coretesting wool has its chance to do the same.