Poor day for fine wools at first Christchurch sale

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32701, 2 September 1971, Page 17

Poor day for fine wools at first Christchurch sale

It was an unhappy day for Canterbury’s fine wool producers when the first Christchurch wool sale of the new season was held in the Wool Exchange at Addington yesterday.

At the corresponding sale a year ago prices foi' most fine wools sagged 5c to 8c per lb. Yesterday prices for many of these wools slumped 10c a kilogram, or 41c per lb. In some instances, of course, the margin lietween the two seasons was much greater, some growers taking 15c or 16c a kilogram less than a year ago for comparable lines of wool.

i estimated to be up to 2 J per I cent cheaper than on Monday. l 'The finer halfbreds were quoted - officially as unchanged, but many r of these were going to the Wool I' Commission’s bid. Fine-wool 1 1 skirtings were also put at 5 per • ■ cent cheaper. I. Crossbreds showed a less pro- j : nounced easing. They were; . reckoned to be in buyers’ favour i I ; for all fleece and crutchings and 11 4 oddments, with skirtings being; I ’ barely steady. [ Level of values j There were a few offerings of, Merino fleece, which brought up ( to about 70c to 79c a kilogram s (32c to 36c per lb). < The finer halfbred sold mainly; I between about 64c and 75c al< ; kilogram (29c to 34c per lb),j I , I with medium qualities making j i from about 60c to 67c (27c to 30c i< : per lb) and stronger wools from | ,58c to 64c. or 261 c to 29c per lb.; The top price for halfbred or ( Corriedale was about 78c a kilo-1 ( gram, or about 35c per lb. j Among the crossbred wools ( the finer qualities realised in the t main from about 62c to 66c a ( kilogram (28c to 30c per lb), t medium sorts 59c to 64c, or 27c j to 29c per lb, and the coarser r crossbreds 58c to 63c (26c to 1 28 ac per lb). 7 The second-shear crossbred 5 I wools, mainly from the West c Coast, bought about late rates, I the general run of average-to- s good wools ranging between c about 55c and 60c a kilogram, or t 25c to 27c per lb. The fine-wool crutchings were r bringing mainly from about 32c s to 38c a kilogram, or 14Jc to 17c per lb, and the coarser v crutchings from about 35c to 45c. 1 or 16c to 20Jc per lb. < Main buyers The Continent provided the c main competition, with some j supoprt from Japan and local a mills. Factors that may have s contributed to the easier tone 7 were the continuing uncertainty ( about the monetary situation, t the depressing start to the fine- f wool selling season in Australia 7 this week, and the fact that yes- v terday’s sale came at the end a of a series of three offerings / well within a week in which f about 65,000 bales of wool have s been available to the trade. I The average price per lb for

The Wool Commission had to intervene extensively ini support of the flagging fine--wool market. It was bidding’ on all types of half-bred and; Corriedale fleece and skirt- j ings and also’ occasionally oni fine-wool crutchings. In the first catalogue of; the dav more than 1000 bales, i or about 22 per cent, were passed to the commission and trade, and this set the pat-; tern for the day. Of the total offering of--22,603 bales passings amoun- : ted to about 4800 bales, or| between 21 and 22 per cent,; and about 3000 bales, or S 3; to 14 per cent, went to the; commission. The commission \ was especially active on the finer and medium-fine wools. Indicative of the weakness of the inquiry from the trade for these wools, the commission’s bid was not infrequently 8c or 10c a kilogram ahead of trade offers, and sometimes the margin was grea-l ter. ] Difficult sale Stronger halfbred and Corrie- ! dales, which were offered in sub- ‘ stantial quantities, had what one . broker’s representative described as “a bath.” They were quoted . 5 per cent cheaper than prices at the Dunedin sale on Monday, J and some observers say that this ' was probably a conservative estimate. But though the fine-wool mar- t ket remained under a cloud, i some vendors of crossbred wools i had a better sale than they had ( a year ago. Medium and coarser 5 crossbreds were up to 2c to 3c < a kilogram dearer than a year I ago. < However, for even crossbreds I the market was easier than it 1 was on Monday for the sale of t the Dunedin wools. < Apart from the stronger half- t breds and Corriedales, medium i wools of this type w'ere

last year’s August sale was 24.75 c. Some authorities believe that it may be 2c to 3c per lb lower on this occasion, but the question is confused, in that a considerable quantity of the fine wool that has been passed to the commission is likely to be sold ito the commission, particularly as vendors may anticipate a i lowering of commission floor 1 levels after these are reviewed ; between the winter series of sales and the start of the main selling season. This could improve the average price. The offering was drawn from Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson, and the West Coast. It included about 55.5 per cent of halfbred and Corriedale wools and about 42.5 per cent of crossbred wools, and among these were about 61 per cent of fleece and body wools. Leading Sales Merino wool sold to 79c for three bales from T. H. Ensor (Cheviot). Sales at 77c were made by Mrs A. P. Bennett (Swannanoa) for six bales, and by the New Zealand Farmers’ Co-operative Association for four bales of hogget wool in its bins. M. E. Ryan and Sons (Awatere). realised 76c for nine bales of hogget wool; they also received 73c. for 16 bales. For five bales W. D. Wadworth (Blenheim) received 75Jc, for four bales W. K. Pratt (Blenheim) received 73£c, and E. C. Vaughan (Christchurch) was paid 73c for four bales. Sales of quarterbred were made by T. H. Ensor at 79Jc for six bales, and 77c for four bales. The best price for halfbred wool was 78c for four bales of hogget wool from J. B. DouglasClifford (Cheviot). The same vendor also realised 74|c for eight bales, 731 c for five bales of hogget wool, and 73c for six bales .of two-tooth wool. J. L. and P. M. Clark-Hall (Amberley) sold four bales of ewe wool at 771 c and M. B. G Robinson! (Waiau) was paid 77c for s»xi bales of hogget wool. A. M. Richards (Hororata) received 761 c for seven bales of ewe wool. N. A. Riddle (Omihi) had a sale of 10 bales at 74c and N. A. Reid (Motunau) received 731 c for four bales of hogget wool. A sale at 73c was made by Gorrie Downs (Omihi) for 10 bales. P. M. LeCren (Parnassus),

realised 77c for three bales of two-tooth Corriedale wool and 71c for 13 bales of ewe wool. A sale at 74Jc was made by the Paritai Partnership (Amberley) for five bales and sales at 74c were made by G. H. Westland | (Cheviot) for six bales of hogget wool and by Riverview Farm (Cheviot) for four bales. E. O. • Carr (Hawarden) realised 73£c e for four bales of hogget wool, D and M. M. Forrester (Kirwee) e i sold 13 bales of ewe wool at The same price was paid e to A. L. and N. D. Shipley (Hare-e-;wood) for 10 bales and to R. W. 3 ; Wightman (Oxford) for six bales. >’■ Crossbred wool brought to 69c a for three bales of hogget wool J in the bins of Pyne, Gould, 1 Guinness Ltd. The same .firm f also had nine bales of hogget i wool at 68c. Sales at 671 c were 1 made by G. F. Hewetson and Son (Nelson) for four bales of i Romney hogget wool and by - Westland Ho Farm (Methven) - for five bales of crossbred hogf get wool. s D. A. Anderson (Hundalee) sold - four bales of second-shear Ppren- ? dale wool at 70c and four bales s nf Perendale wool in the bins of Pyne, Gould, Guinness brought 165 c. r : Second-shear Romney wool r brought to 63c for five bales > from D. S. Anderson (Tai Tapu). t One of the best sales of cross--1 bred crutchings was that made ’ by B. E. Goodwin (Pigeon Bay), r for a single bale which realised . 52c. The New Zealand Farmers’ . Co-operative Association also had f five bales in its bins which I brought 52c. 3 The NMA Company of New Zealand, Ltd, obtained 50c for . six bales in its bins and Pyne, , Gould, Guinness Ltd, received • the same price for 19 bales of- : feted under its classification of various. j Pyne, Gould, Guinness Ltd, also ■ had a nine-bale entry of halfbred . crutchings which realised 43Jc I and another six bales at 41c. t C. P. Wright (Lyndhurst) sold • four bales of Corriedale crutchJ ings at 39jc, and sales at 39c ■ were made by Palmside Station 5 (Culverden) for three bales of . ! Corriedale, A. I. Taylor (Seddon) • for five bales of halfbred, and ’ by Caygill and Williams (Parnas- ' sus) for six bales of halfbred. !' Details of catalogues in order ‘' of sale were:— Bales , NMA Company of New Zealand, Ltd 4641 ■ Pyne, Gould, Guinness Ltd 7162 , i Dalgety New Zealand, Ltd 6591 ' New Zealand Farmers’ Co- 1 operative Assn .. 4209 j Total: 22,603 '