Wool up slightly but behind last Christchurch sale

Press, 16 January 1979, Page 17

Wool up slightly but behind last Christchurch sale

Compared with the most! recent comparable wool) sales prices were slightly i better over all when the! fifth Christchurch sale ofl the season opened yesterday. | However, ’hey were not I quite up to the levels paid; at the last sale in Christchurch at the beginning of ! fast month.

On a greasy basis prices[ actually often looked lower ; than they were, but this was! a reflection of a bigger rep-i resentation of heavier-con dition and lower-yielding I ■wools than at earlier offer-' Ings.

The sale opened on al fairly quiet note and was ra-; rely animated, but com-; petition was reasonably I widespread and most of the I 19,985 bales in the selection I went into consumption. A little surprisingly con-I sidering the rather restrained note of the sale,; there was little change in I the market during the day.

Most of the fleece sold be-1 tween about 190 c and 230 c 1 per kilogram, but this time! more of the Halfbred andj Corriedale fell below 200 c. Crossbred wools enjoyed ai relatively better sale than | the finer wools, bringing mainly from about 210 c to 230 c.

Compared with the last fine-wool sale at Dunedin on December 11, the Half bred and Comedaie fleece wools, which predominated in the selection, were estimated to be slightly dearer. This was particularly the case for the fine, medium and extra

I strong qualities. Thel; | stronger wools were also; (fully firm to slightly dearer, i ■ However, the fine and me-j( ■ dium qualities were about 4cj' I to 6c per kg down on the ‘last Christchurch sale on a (clean basis; the fact that ; I these wools were lower- ; (yielding tended to make the ; margin between the two (sales look greater. j For fine Halfbred and Corin edale values ranged from I about 205 c to 225 c. medium ■ (wools making from about 195 c to 214 c, and stronger (sorts from 190 c to 212 c. ; Halfbred sold to 237 c and | I Corriedale to 232 c. ! For a small weight of ; Merino the market was similar to that at Dunedin, (prices mainly falling be- ; (tween 230 c and 248 c. The ; (top price for this class of (wool was 262 c. ( Crossbred fleece also sold . (at slightly better rates than [at Auckland last week — (this was compared with the • i average of the sale and not i (the closing stages of the (northern sale when the mariket slackened appreciably. ! ; However, yesterday’s prices [were also marginally behind [ (last month’s Christchurch (sale. | Most of the crossbred fleece brought from about 1210 c to 229 c, the top price 'being 239 c. I Once again Down and (Down cross wools featured jin the sale. Two lots of : Down wool realising 282 c ■ (and 274 c again eclipsed Merlino for top price of the day. I Halfbred short oddments '

[showed one of the most marked movements, being :up to 2| per cent dearer, i Halfbred skirtings generally [were steady on late rates. Neck wools of both fine! and coarse descriptions 1 again regularly sold above 200 c. Fine pieces brought from about 158 c to 175 c and coarser types from about 169 c to 180 c. Fine bellies sold from about 150 c to 170 c, and crossbred bellies from 158 c to 176 c. But if prices yesterday were trailing last month’s sale, they were a good deal better than those ruling a year ago. Halfbred and Corriedale fleece wools looked to be dearer than in January last year by about 20c to 25c and crossbreds showed an even bigger margin. The offering yesterday was 19,985 bales, drawn mainly from Canterbury and Marlborough, plus smaller selecions from Nelson, the West Coast and Chatham Islands. The main buying interest! came from Western and Eastern Europe and Japan, supported by New Zealand mills. As the sale is a two-day one and will be completed tomorrow, it is not expected that an adjusted weighted average selling price (awasp) will be announced until after the second day. It was estimated that if the calculation; were based on yesterday’s selling, only a very small supplementary payment would apply it at all.