Wool Marketing Scheme Nearer

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32313, 3 June 1970, Page 10

Wool Marketing Scheme Nearer

A suggestion that diverse wool interests in New Zealand may be moving towards the acceptance of some form of central marketing organisation is made in the latest newsletter of the Wool Board. This is based on views expressed at a symposium held at Wanganui last month in association with the Land and Industry Exhibition.

The newsletter says there will be no immediate comment from the board about

late 1967. A year later the marketing committee of the board, and Wool Commission reported that it “met most of the requirements of a desirable marketing system but should not be implemented at the present time.” The chairman added in a speech to the electoral committee that he did not expect the plan outlined in the report to remain unchanged. There had to be progressive improvement: greater knowledge of the subject, better understanding and improvement in the practical matters of wool handling, measurement and “flow”. Later he said of improved handling and marketing techniques: “We cannot rely on the good will and self-interest of others to do the job for us. It will be necessary for the woolgrowing industry to assume such powers as will ensure growers receive the benefits.”

t woolbrokers’ ideas on a marketing commission to run a 1 price averaging scheme on 5 the Australian model.' The j brokers' ideas were put for- ■ ward by their president, Mr R. R. Trotter, at Wanganui. > The chairman, Sir John 1 Acland, left shortly after for f Monte Carlo, where there will : be talks on marketing at the International Wool Textile Organisation's conference. 1 New Zealand brokers and t buyers will also be there. He . said changes must come but I timing was critical. He ex- * pected to put the board’s proposals before woolgrowers “soon.” e The Wool Marketing Study i- Group put forward its apt praisal and purchase plan in

expounded or accepted some form of central marketing organisation to supervise change. The reasons are not hard to find. There is now a large minority of farmers in favour of change in the selling system. About 15 per cent of the clip is being sold outside auction—by more than 25 per cent of farmers. The critics, including the Minister of Agriculture and the new head of the International Wool Secretariat, are more outspoken, and events in Australia are setting a hot pace.

The buyers’ representative at Wanganui, Mr D. L. Ambler, took a moderate line. If radical changes were found necessary, the trade would accept them, he said. He asked only for continued access to the wool, and a chance to handle it before buying. He spoke in favour of auction and made the point that forward-ordering was the established practice of customer mills. If the buying houses did not carry the stocks and the risks, someone would have to. Over the Tasman How moderate the trade will be at Monte Carlo remains to be seen. To many delegates, events in Australia in the last month must look cataclysmic. In mid-April the New South Wales Grazfers’ Association, “the last bastion,” accepted a single seller for the entire clip, and later in the month there was a unanimous vote of the Wool Industry Conference to the same purpose. The vote covers wide differences between farm organisations on the nature of a marketing organisation and its powers. Commentators doubt whether a scheme could be working by the 1971 season, even if it was politically “on.” Australia already has a -pooling scheme, compulsory for the small lots, which is being prepared to start in August The greatest fireworks in the sky over Monte Carlo are likely to stem from discussions which Mr Gorton is reported to have had with Mr Sato, says the newsletter. The proposal is said to be that Japan should take about a third of the clip at negotiated prices. The fact thta there is confusion—the Japanese industry has spoken strongly against any change in the auction system—will only add to the pyrotechnics. Where is the New Zealand farmer in all this? According to Mr Bruce Dryden, who ably spoke up for him at Wanganui, he is rubbing the dust out of his eyes . . . not so much conservative as blinded by the conflicting arguments. What he wants, said Mr Dryden, is “a comprehensive and definite assessment of a clear-cut and working plan of market reform.” A tall order, and one speaker said “impossible.” But the Wool Board has long accepted that farmers must be given, at, the right time, the clearest possible lead, both on the organisation and the foreseeable outcome. The partial consensus at Wanganui brings the time closer.

The brokers’ proposal does not envisage grower control of the system. “It would be desirable not to have grower domination. The important thing would be to have people with marketing expertise,” said Mr Trotter. Growers would certainly agree with the need for expertise but as owners of the wool they are unlikely to forfeit control of its disposal, says the newsletter. Importance Of Freedom Farmers set great store by their freedom to choose a selling method. Mr Trotter’s ideas do not involve acquisition but at the heart of them is compulsion: the pulling of all wool into auction. This has already brought an answer from the co-operative organisation. It has clear implications for private dealers—and also for the growers particularly if they did not control the organisation. In an introduction to the Wanganui symposium, Sir John wrote: “Changes must come because of rising costs, because of new technologies, because Of changes in the textile industries we serve.” Few would have expected such ready agreement. Speakers from the growers, brokers, buyers, dealers and the co-operative all either