Many wool prices improve

Press, 21 May 1982, Page 17

Many wool prices improve

Prices at the combined 1 Christchurch and Timaru wool sale yesterday ini proved 2.5 per cent in A number of descriptions, codpared with recent sales jn Auckland and Dunedin, Jut the official indicators Are only steady on those after the last Christchurch sail, on April 16. / This season’s Christclurch wool auctions have Maintained the selling cmtre's reputation for imjroving prices compared win sales in other centres Jut the market indicator, ance its introduction at the Jeginning of 1982, has provided a cogent measure of th? fluctuating fortunes of wod recently. The market indcator was 247 c after the Christchurch sales on January 22 and February 1, 254: on February 11. rose sharply to 268 c on March 3 and 272 c on March 5, and dropped again to 260 c on April 16. Yesterday it was 257 c. The adjusted weighted average sale price (A.W.A.S.P.) yesterday was 261.63 c which means a Government supplement of 22.3 per cent is payable on all wools sold at the auction and sold privately from midnight on May 19 to midnight on May 20. A drop in the level of Government supplementation was evident during February and March, but the percentage of supplementation is now about the average level for the whole season. The best improvements at yesterday’s sale were among the crossbred oddments, : which were 5 to 10 per cent i up on the Auckland sale on i May 13. There were steady rises in l most fleece wool descrip- 1 tions, fine and coarse. 1 Compared with the * Dunedin sale on April 29, fine . and medium Halfbred fleece ‘ was up to 25 per cent dearer. 1 Strong and extra strong J Halfbred fleece was quoted ! as barely steady, and oddments firm. The sale contained little Merino fleece < and the small number of i mainly bin lots made be- <

tween 450 and 500 c a kilogram. A feature of the combined sale was the good prices made by Down cross fleece, which ranged to 384 c for mainly bin lots, particularly from Timaru. The top price was 30c a kilogram above that at Christchurch on April 16. Compared with the Auckland sale on May 13 the medium and strong crossbred fleece was up to 2.5 per cent dearer. The large offering of course second-shear wool met good demand, best styles being up to 2.5 per cent dearer compared with Auckland. and poorer styles firm. Market sources said that demand from New Zealand mills for the carpet trade provided a good sale for Christchurch and Timaru crossbred second-shears. The crossbred lambs’ wool was generally unchanged on prices at Auckland, crossbred skirtings were in sellers’ favour. The sale was a typical end-of-season one, containing a mixed bag of shorter descriptions, a few lines of prelambing ewe fleece, and many combined and various lots from brokers’ stores. The sale tone was sound, demand being steady throughout the day. Indeed, some of the best prices were received in the last catalogue, that of Wrightson N.M.A., Ltd, Timaru. The Timaru brokers said before the sale that the offering from that centre of 10, 260 bales was of reasonably good standard for an end-of-season sale. The Timaru section contained 9 per cent fine fleece wool, 21 per cent crossbred fleece, 27 per cent secondshear, 12 per cent lambs’ wool, 28 per cent oddments and 3 per cent miscellaneous. “The very small fine wool offering was of very average standard and carried dust, cottiness and condition,” the Timaru brokers said. “The crossbred fleece included the odd line of wellgrown, sound wool of fair colour but mainly these

wools are cotted, yellow stained and dusty. “The second-shear showing was good, considering the seasonal conditions, and these wools were well presented. There were several lines of bright, high-yielding shears of good colour and length, but in many lines a little discolouration or dust was in evidence. “The small offering of lambs’ wool was well grown and of quite good colour and there were some attractive top lines of high yielding, bright colour wools ”of good staple length. “Generally shed preparation was satisfactory although a few lines could have been better ‘picked.’ The Christchurch section of the sale contained 797 lots of 9315 bales, and these were sold first. The Wool Board was required to bid on only 14 per cent of the Christchurch offering and it bought or had passed to it 1.5 per cent. Over the whole sale the Wool Board bid on 2347 bales, 11.9 per cent, and bought or had passed to it 409 bales, or 2.1 per cent. Bidding was reasonably keen and competition widespread, with Eastern Europe and Japan supporting New Zealand mills. The over-all description of the prices in the combined sale was firm to 2.5 per cent dearer than recent sales. The leading prices from the Christchurch catalogues were: The top price of 510 c was paid for four bales of fine Merino wool from the bins of Wrightson N.M.A.. Ltd. Six bales of medium Merino from Wrightson’s made 461 c and 11 bales of Merino from the bins of N.Z. Farmers' Cooperative Association of Canterbury, Ltd. sold for 459 c. Halfbred sold to 492 c for four bales of fine wool from Taipo Farm (West Coast). Four bales of extra fine shorn hogget from A. and J. Richards (Hororata) made 376 c and G. L. B. Burnett (Oxford) received 375 c for nine bales of fine Halfbred.

J. C. Hiatt (Cheviot) sold 14 bales of medium Halfbred at 357 c and seven bales of fine Halfbred at 334 c. A bin lot of four bales of woolly Halfbred hogget from Farmers’ made 343 c.

Six bales of woolly crossbred hogget from E. C. Briden (Oxford) sold at 336 c, and E. E. Spencer (Parnassus) sold 20 bales of crossbred ewe wool at 327 c, 34 bales of Romney ewe at 324 c, 23 bales of crossbred second-shear at 320 c, and five bales of crossbred ewe at 303 c. Corriedale wool made to 370 c for nine bales of extra fine shorn hogget from F. Berry (Ashburton). The same vendor sold 20 bales of fine Corriedale at 357 c. The estate of J. R. and H. W. Branch (Ashburton) received 366 c for eight bales of woolly Corriedale hogget, and Mount Palm station (Rotherham) sold five bales of fine Corriedale for 363 c. For six bales of fine Corriedale. J. K. Atkinson (Oxford) received 356 c and C. A. Harrison (Cheviot) sold four bales of fine shorn Corriedale hogget at 357 c. Perendale ewe wool sold to 293 c for seven bales from P. H. Higgins (Nelson) and 8 bales of woolly Coopworth hogget from Percival Farm (Hanmer Springs) made 310 c. E. C. Briden (Oxford) sold nine bales of two-tooth Coopworth ewe for 293 c. Seven bales of Southdown wool from the bins of Pyne. Gould, Guinness Ltd. sold for 325 c, and six bales of Down cross from Dalgety's made 320 c. A price of 304 c was paid for six bales of fine Down cross from the bins of Farmers.

Seadown Farm, Ltd (Amberley) sold 12 bales of fine Borderdale wool at 312 c, and four bales of Border Leicester from the Estate of J. R. and H. W. Branch (Ashburton) made 299 c. The Lands and Survey Department (Eyrewell), received 284 c for five bales of Border Leicester-Corrie-dale cross. Five bales of Romney lambs' wool from W. Revelly and Sons (Ashburton) sold for 318 c and 15 bales of Romney lambs' wool in a combined lot from Dalgetv’s made 316 c. Crossbred lambs’ wool from N. J. McKenzie (Ashburton) made 302 c for 10 bales and R. T. Hight (Darfield) received 299 c for five bales of Perendale lambs' wool. An undisclosed vendor sold seven bales of Halfbred lambs' wool at 326 c and Glenalton Farm (Waipara) sold five bales of Corriedale lambs’ wool at 305 c.

Two lots of three-quarterbred wool from the bins of Pyne's made 294 c and 293 c for eight bales and 12 baies respectively, and 283 c was paid for five bales of Drysdale wool from S. P. and J. N. Crone (Ashburton). Jedburgh Farm (Cheviot) received 291 c for four bales of fine quar-ter-bred second-shear and D. R. and S. L. Harris (Waiau) received

the same money for four bales of three-quarterbried second-shear. A price of 364 c was paid for four bales of Merino secondshear from J. R. Todhunter and Sons (Rakaia Gorge) and a bin lot of nine bales of Merino second-shear from Pyne’s made 331 c. The Broomfield Estate (Amberley) sold 18 bales of Corriedal’e second-shear for 319 c and nine bales of Merino from Dalgety's bins made 312 c. E. W. Newport (Nelson) sold 10 bales of Romney second-shear at 307 c and M. J. Dredge (Murchison) received 302 c for 10 bales of crossbred second-shear.

Among the top prices for the Timaru offering were four bales of extra fine woolly hogget Halfbred wool from D. T. Lowe and Company (Ashburton) at 450 c. The same vendor sold 14 bales of extra fine Halfbred at 396 c and 36 bales of fine Halfbred at 381 c. Four bales of fine Halfbred woolly hogget from the bins of Wrightson’s made 380 c and A. J. Gibson (Oamaru) received 365 c for six bales of shorn Haifbred hogget. From the bins pf the Farmers’, four bales of extra fine Halfbred was sold for 363 c, and J. A. Guerin (Fairlie) sold four bales of fine Halfbred for 356 c and received 354 c for 24 bales of fine Halfbred wether wool.

Five bales of Merino from Pyne's bins sold for 481 c and seven bales of fine Merino from the bins of Dalgety's sold for 480 c. R. A. Rayne (Fairlie) sold 14 bales of Merino at 440 c and eight bales of Merino necks from Wrightson’s made 436 c. Grassy Hills Farm (Waimate) sold four bales of fine woolly hogget Corriedale for 366 c and N. S. Taylor (Kohika) received 320 c for six bales of crossbred ewe. A price of 319 c was paid for 16 bales of crossbred from I. J. Walker (Maungati). Eight bales of fine Perendale wool from J. W. Rogers (Mayfield) sold at 306 c and I. J. Pye (Waimate) received 305 c for seven bales of Perendale ewe wool. Five bales of Perendale cross wool from R. M. Macaulay (Albury) sold for 297 c. Coopworth ewe wool sold to 302 c for 26 bales from P. H. Evans (Maungati) and L. L. and N. L. Doyle (Ashburton) received 299 c for 46 bales. Four bales of Down cross from Dalgety's bins sold for 384 c and five bales of fine Down cross from Wrightson’s bins made 362 c. Also from Dalgety’s, 14 bales of Down cross sold for 361 c and four bales of Southdown realised 341 c. Four bales of Down cross from Wrightson’s made 347 c and J. J. Macaulay (Timaru) sold three bales of Southdown for 323 c.

Five bales, of Suffolk from Francis Brothers (Oamaru) sold for 313 c and five bales of Drysdale from the Farmers' bins made 290 c.

The Grampians (Tekapo) received 325 c for 10 bales of Merino second-shear and S. R. Garland (Maungati) was paid 316 c for eight bales of crossbred second-shear.

A. K. Nolan (Geraldine) sold 12 bales of crossbred second-shear at 305 c, the Waitohi Farming Company (Temuka) received 306 c for 15 bales of crossbred second-shear, and a various lot of crossbred second-shear from Pyne's sold for 303 c. Nine bales of Coopworth lambs' wool from B. G. Butler (Hunter) was sold for 300 c, and nine bales of Halfbred lambs' wool from the Dalgety bins made 312 c. The order of sale was — Christchurch: Dalgety New Zealand, Ltd. 254 lots, 3083 bales: New Zealand Farmers' Co-op Association of Canterbury, Ltd, 154 lots, 1607 bales; Pyne, Gould, Guinness Ltd, 164 lots. 1968 bales; Wrightson N.M.A., Ltd, 225 lots, 2657 bales. The total was 797 lots and 9315 bales.

Timaru: Dalgety New Zealand, Ltd, 260 lots, 2425 bales; Canterbury Farmers’ Co-op Association, Ltd. 250 lots. 2507 bales; Pyne, Gould, Guinness Ltd, 221 lots, 2287 bales; Wrightson N.M.A., Ltd, 297 lots, 3014 bales. The total was 1028 lots and 10,260 bales.