Improvement for wool

Press, 9 May 1980, Page 3

Improvement for wool

PA Invercargill An improved bidding tone prevailed within a fairly widespread buying pattern at the Invercargill wool sale yesterday. Eastern and Western Europe'supported by Japan and New Zealand carpet mills were the main buyers.

The Wool Board bid on 71.99 per cent of the offering and had 24.64 per cent (6540 bales) passed to it. The official report said that compared with the Napier sale on May 1, crossbred fleece was firm; crossbred second shear, firm; crossbred lambs, inclined in buyers’ favour; crossbred skirtings, par to sellers’ favour; and crossbred oddments, barely steady. The catalogue ' of 27,467 bales was 45 per cent fleece,

21 per cent secondshear, 17 per cent lambs’ wool, plus the usual oddments l .

The fleece showed general yellowing and cotting in most lots. Failure to remove the odd cotted fleece from an otherwise “free” line cost growers about 10c to 12c a kilogram. Often too, second-shear and lambs’ body wool was spoilt by the shearing method which leaves part of the belly wool on the edge of the fleece. This resulted in heavy price discounts. The adjusted weighted average sale price yesterday was 242.7 c a kilogram. The range of prices was:—

Crossbred Fleece. 44/ 48s and Coarser: Good 258 to 270 Average 244 to 257 Poor 220 to 230 Crossbred Cotts:

Average/good Poor/average Second-shear 228 to 236 219 to 227 Crossbred, 3in to 4in, 44/46 and Coarser: Good/super 270 to 290 Good/average 258 to 268 Poor/average 245 to 257 Crossbred, 2in to 3in, 44/46s and Coarser Good/super 265 to 280 Good/average 250 to 264 Poor/average 240 to 249 Second-shear Bellies and Pieces: Good 208 to 223 Average 190 to 207 Poor 175 to 185 Lambs' wool First Lambs, 50s and 50/52s: Good 256 to 267 Average 248 to 255 Lambs’ Bellies and Pieces: Good 200 to 218 Average 180 to 199 Oddments First Pieces, 44/48s: Good 195 to 210 Average 180 to 194 Bellies, 44/48s: Good 180 to 190 Average 170 to 179 Poor 161 to 169