Good news for N.Z. wool

Press, 28 March 1979, Page 26

Good news for N.Z. wool

The business boom being enjoyed by British wool carpet yarn spinners should benefit New Zealand’s wool industry. The spinning companies use substantial quantities of New Zealand wools and are working frantically to keep pace with increasing demand, reports the Wool Board. Prospects for the next few months are bright and there is general optimism as the carpet tufting section of the industry continues to grow. This is the picture that emerges from a survey of spinners in west Yorkshire, heart of the United

Kingdom wool textile industry. Against a background of general recession, particularly in the worsted sector, carpet yarn spinners have emerged in the last two years as probably the most successful of all the wool processors. Most are working two and three shifts a day and at least two of the bigger companies have begun or are planning expansion programmes. The emergence in the early 1970 s of Berbers — natural-coloured wool carpets which synthetics find difficult to imitate — has had a great deal to do

with the spinners’ continued success. But the style of Berbers is changing: manufacturers are demanding both thicker and thinner yarns in place of medium range ones and are looking for a wider variety of colour effects.

The spinners, often helped in technical and styling matters by the International Wool Secretariat’s technical centre at Ilkley, are constantly under pressure from these changing market requirements. Nevertheless, they are looking to the future with some confidence. Mr John Lyles, managing director of S. Lyels and Sons and Company, Britain’s biggest yarn producer, says the past few months have been better than for some time. He expects the strong demand to continue.

“We believe,” said Mr Lyles, “that because of the severe winter, which has kept huge numbers of consumers at home, there is a

lot of pent-up spending due to be released in Europe this spring. The carpet industry should get its share of this spending.”

He believes recent increases in synthetic fibre prices are likely to make wool more attractive proposition for manufactuers and consumers. Lyles has two mills in Yorkshire. The firm uses almost five million kilograms of wool a year — 40 per cent of it from New Zealand — and is generally regarded as the industry leader. Another big user of wool, again predominantly New Zealand types, is Thomas Carr, Ltd, at Huddersfield, whose fibre buyer, Mr Phillip Wright, talks of “a very, very busy past 18 months and full order books for the next six months.”

He points out the sterling prices of wool have barely moved in the last four years — “so from that point of view it is still a cheap commodity.”