Wool in demand but prices steady

Press, 2 December 1978, Page 19

Wool in demand but prices steady

; The wool market seems to * Ihave settled down again, and < i yesterday's Christchurch sale ; could be described as solid I (although not spectacular. i : Prices were not a lot difIferent from the last Christ- ; j church sale early last month : when values eased quite a;! lot on the September sale — , 'the Halfbred and Corriedale I; wools were up a little and the coarser wools down abit — but the demand was . keen and widespread, and compared with the most re- I cent sales in other selling centres values did not show i' much alteration. Indicative of the strength; iof the inquiry, Eastern Europe and the Far East, including Japan and China, ‘ and also New Zealand mills,,, provided the main buying • support, with Western European interests also in the market. In effect, this meant: that a good part of the? world was interested in yesterday’s sale. As a consequence the sale : , was a beter one than come ■ observers had expected and - (almost all the wool went to: [trade buyers. By the end of'the third catalogue, when” (more than 21,500 bales had i come before buyers, only! 569 bales, or 2.6 per cent of [the offering to the point., I had been passed to the trade Mr the Wool Board. The board had a very quiet day. Up to the end of the third catalogue it had put in bids [ on 915 bales, or 4.2 per cent iof the selection, and had had only 36 bales, or 0.17 per: cent, sold or passed to it. According to trade circles,, wool stocks in overseas manufacturers’ hands remain ilow so that there is a continuing need to obtain wool; (to keep machines going. The better tone of the United States dollar has also helped Ito reduce uncertainty and restore confidence. Of great:, importance to the market in 'New Zealand so far this sea-, Ison has been the amount of 1 'buying done for Wastenr [Europe and China. The com-;, [ment was heard in the sale ■ , room yesterday that had 1

these latter areas not beenjl active and the market been is :solely dependent on Western I 'Europe, it would be very r much weaker. But as already mentionedit prices generally were noth , spectacular. Most of the:'. ; Halfbred. Corriedale and: crossbred fleece sold be- i ■ tween 200 c and 235 c per t kilogram. : :■ However, there was a? very much improved sale fori' Merino wools compared f with the last Christchurch? sale, when the market was | very weak and quite a lot of? this wool was passed ini' Quite a sprinkling of these I 'wools topped the 250 c markp, and ranged to 273 c. They;, were estimated to be up to? 2J per cent dearer than at? the last fine wool sale in .1 Dunedin on November 9 and, showed the biggest advance iof any category on the day. 1 Some vendors of Merino” wools recorded very good , sales. The A. A. Urquhart? (Trust (Rangitata Gorge), for” instance, realised from 260 c ( Ito 268 c for 15 bales: J. R.? iTodhunter and Sons (Rakaia'! ’Gorge) sold 135 bales at,, |24lc to 260 c; F. and L.[ ( (Westenra (Craigieburn) 23, bales at 240 c to 259 c; and;, Proutings Mesopotamia, Ltd,-. (Rangitata Gorge) 39 bales al, 242 c to 254 c. For the general run of these wools prices ranged from about 2.30 c to 255 c and I looked to be up about 8c to ’ 10c bn rates of a year ago. . While the market was? pretty steady throughout the day, there was some variation in prices due not to the market but the condition of' [some of the wool. The yield:, [of some of the clips, which;; had been affected by thej; drought earlier in the year,;: was variable and there wash also some tenderness in evi-j dence in these wools.- I; Compared with the Dune-1. din sale, the Halfbreds andj ■ Corriedales also showed a|t : slight improvement. The;< I finer to medium qualities; t [were described as being inlt I sellers’ favour, or fractional-’.

ly dearer, and the stronger' sorts also tended upwards, but in their case the movement was less pronounced. The finer Halfbred and Corriedales were bringing mainly from about 210 c to 235 c, medium qualities from about 210 c to 230 c and stronger Halfbreds from about 200 c to 220 c. They also looked to be up 15c to 20c on a year ago, when they met only a limited in-i quiry in a weakening mar-, ket. While crossbred wools did not sell quite as well as at; the last Christchurch sale. I they were quoted unchanged, on the Auckland sale on Wednesday, and they were also up on prices of a year: ago by 10c to 15c. These wools were bringing mainly. from about 215 c to 235 c. The s e c o n d-shear crossbred wools ranged from about 200 c to 227 c. A feature of the sale again; [was the prices paid for I Southdown and Southdown- ; cross wools. These wools' frequently exceeded the 260 c I mark and two sales ■ were ’made at 286 c for three bales [of Down cross and 16 bales [of Down wool. ; Japan was reported to be [the main buyer of these i wools and trie top wools 'were reported to be going into the hosiery trade. These wools are regarded traditionally as Japanese types and from time to time command high prices. Such a trend has been evident, for a month or so now and they also sold very well at the : last Christchurch sale a month ago. Neck wools, both fine and I coarse, regularly topped the (200 c mark, and both fine and I strong crutchings and also [fine pieces reached and topped 200 c.. I For Halfbred and Corried-i . ale skirtings prices also [ ’edged upwards. [ Fine necks brought from! ’about 198 c to. 229 c and! : crossbred necks from 200 c I Ito 232 c; fine bellies from [about 153 c to 176 c and ’ crossbred bellies from 160 c

[to 175 c; fine pieces ranged,2 from 168 c to over 200 c and f i coarser sorts from 170 c to J 186 c; and fine crutchings f sold mainly from 142 c to J 177 c and coarser sorts from * about 165 c to 192 c. h The adjusted weighted average selling price for the c : sale, or AWASP. was ’ s 205.57 c per kg. which is 2 almost identical with that I for the Auckland sale on? [Wednesday, but rs slightly? i lower than for the Christ- ? [church sale in November! when it was 208.12 c. How- t [ever, it is not yet down to; [the level which would bring? into operation the Govern- I ment’s supplementary min-; t , imum price scheme. As was the case at the . last Christchurch sale, the I .[ top prices were paid for i : Down and Down-cross. i , ’ wools. Three bales of Down- 1 I cross in the bins of Pyne, I ■ Gould, Guinness Ltd. and 16 ; [bales of Down wool in the c libins of Dalgety New Zealand, Ltd, realised 286 c. An- ■ [other three bales of Down- j II cross in Pyne’s bins sold for j [ 285 c. 1 ;, Six bales of similar wool! ;[from A. H. Busch (Broad-? [field) realised 258 c. For jMerino wool values ■ ! i ranged up to 273 c for five; ? bales of fine ewe wool from ;: A. E. Van Asch (Seddon). . Bluff Station (Kekerengu), 1; realised 272 c for six bales of ?fine Merino. The A. A. Ur- - ■iquhart Trust (Erewhon) sold i[l four bales of fine wool at •;268c and also six bales of' medium wool at 264 c. .I For six bales of extra-fine; ,; woolly hogget and four bales [of fine wool, N. E. Giles l;(Blenheim) was paid 262 c, Land J. R. Todhunter and I Sops (Rakaia Gorge), reilceived 260 c for 12 bales of[ l[ medium wool. The Urquhart ; Trust also sold five bales of .[fine Merino at 260 c. [ The-best money for Halfbred wool was 254 c for 11 [bales of extra-fine wool’ [[from Lees Valley Estate! : (Lees Valley). I. E. and M. ,[ E. Winskill (Cheviot), real-, jlised 249 c for four bales of! fine two-tooth wool and'

243 c for nine bales of extra-!V fine.'J. R. Russell (Lees Vai (a ley) sold nine bales of extra 1 I fine wool at 248 c, and M R In J. Buick (Ashburton). hai.| eight bales of fine woollj, hogget at 246 c. J. D. Sidey (Waikari) re-1 , ceived 245 c for four bales o‘; shorn Corriedale hogget anc' ■ 244 c for another four bales ! _ For four bales of extra-fine I Corriedale wool D. A Sloss I ~ (Cheviot) obtained 241 c. andif McAlpine Brothers (Blen-i[ heim) had 19 bales of shorn [ hogget at 240 c. Crossbred wool sold to|' 244 c for 14 bales of shorn hogget from B. R. McClin- - tock (Havelock). P. J. Kinder L (Pelorous Sound) received 243 c for five bales of shorn a hogget, and sales at 242 c were made by Tara partnership (Ashburton), for 21 < bales of shorn hogget, and by D. L. and E. F. Johns and Son (Akaroa). for eight bales of shorn hogget. Knockindale Estate (Pigeon Bay) received 241 c for four bales of shorn Romney hogget, and 240 c for another 11 bales. The best price for Per-: endale wool was 244 c for seven bales in the bins of

Wrightson N.MA. Ltd. Gibraltar Farm Company iTaii tapu) realised 242 c for four: iiales of shorn hogget. P R. and N. M. Blunden, Port Levy) sold five bales >f Coopworth shorn hogget it 237 c, and the Pakihi Demmstration Farm (Westport) rad six bales of shorn 1 hogget at 236 c. 1 Polwarth wool sold to ‘ 228 c for five bales of shorn ‘ hogget from I. H. Hamilton 1 (Omihi) and for seven bales of Drysdale. G W. Prebble (Ashburton) was paid 212 c. 1 Crossbred second-shear ! brought to 230 c for 10 bales j in the bins of Dalgety New Zealand. Ltd. and for ' another 10 bales in the bins o' Pyne. Gould, Guinness Ltd. Details of catalogues, in order of sale, were; — , Wrightson NMA. Ltd 5.471 Pyne. Gould, Guinness Ltd 7.088 1 Dalgety New Zealand. Ltd 9,101 • N.Z. Farmers' Co- ' operative Association 5,111 i' I Total 26,771 J