Export yarn boost

Press, 25 May 1977, Page 23

Export yarn boost

PA Auckland The “back to Nature” swing by consumers is benefiting wool spinning firms, not only in NewZealand but in export markets as well.

Prestige-Holeproof (N.Z.), Ltd, has just secured a sizable order with a Canadian retail chain for the supply of wool and knitting yarn. Although the company would not disclose the actual value of the order, the general manager of its spun yarn division, Mr A.

R. Stevens, said the initial shipment was bigger than any single shipment the group had sent to Australia. The price received for the wool was about $ll a kilogram to the company. Its selling price to the customer would depend on the retailer, but mark-ups in Canada were higher than those in this country. The success by PrestigeHoleproof in the Canadian market matches .that of the Dunedin firm, Mosgiel, Ltd. Earlier this month

Mosgiel announced it had won a contract to supply hand knitting yarn worth more than $500,000 to a major Canadian company during the coming year. The heavy-weight yarn involved in the shipments was specially developed for the Canadian market. Mr Stevens said that yarn exports by his group, including the latest order, were running at an annual rate of about $600,000. He hoped the latest shipment, which was twice as large as any sent to Myers in Australia, would lead to further orders. Because of seasonal differences, shipments to the N o rt he r n Hemisphere enabled the companies to iron out production flatspots. This meant plant could run more efficiently. In the past most Canadian shops have concentrated on synthetic knitting yarn sales. The latest sales have been seen as an important breakthrough and the Prestige-Holeproof yarn will receive promotional support from the Wool Bureau of Canada when it goes on sale in July.

Prestige-Holeproof says that its exports of hand knitting yarns have increased by 600 per cent in less than four years. On one occasion the company had to charter an aircraft to meet one Australian order for 35,000 packs. Prestige-Holeproof has also opened a new hosiery factory in Glenfield, Auckland. This new pantyhose operation will employ more than 30 people.