Wool prices firm at Chch

Press, 1 October 1983, Page 13

Wool prices firm at Chch

Wool prices held firm at their improved levels on the second (fay yesterday of this week’s two-day Christchurch sale, which was combined with a sale by separation of wool from Timaru. Perhaps reflecting a desire on the part of buyers to fill order books with the last substantial offering of pre-lamb shorn crossbred fleece, prices in the Timaru section finned slightly compared with the Christchurch section. About two-fifths of the 8593bale Timaru offering was crossbred fleece wool and this type will now be scarce until the main sharing during summer. The second-day Christchurch offering was again mainly prelamb shorn fine fleece, including a big offering of • Merino from Marlborough. The market over al! was firm on the first day, on Wednesday, and competition broadened further and was described as keen. The market was also solid, with no notable gaps or “holes” for unwanted types, a feature that bodes well for a sustained improvement in New Zealand woof prices generally. The adjusted weighted average sale price (A.W.A.S.P.) slipped only a fraction from the first day, to close on 306.29 c a kilogram. Based on this a Government supplementary payment of 4.5 per cent will apply to all wool

sold at the sale and all wool sold privately from midnight, September 29 to midnight, September 30. The market indicator was 306 c. Over both the Christchurch and Timaru sections of the sale yesterday, fine Merino fleece was slightly dearer compared with the first Christchurch day. Extra fine Halfbred fleece was also slightly dearer. Fine to strong Halfbred fleece types were very firm, but extra strong was a shade easier. Halfbred skirtings were more irregular but generally unchanged, and crutchings and short oddments were 2.5 to 5 per cent dearer. Perhaps as a reaction to the strong improvement in prices on the first day, crossbred skirtings were up to 2.5 per cent cheaper, with some clothing oddments at par to 2.5 per cent cheaper. Crossbred crutchings were firm on the first day. As mentioned, the smaller crossbred fleece offering in the Christchurch catalogue was firm on the first day but the later and larger Timaru offering moved up slightly by 1 to 2 per cent. This gave the auction its most notable feature — the strengthening tone through the day. Another feature was the peaks in the Halfbred and Corriedale offering, the Halfbred fleece reaching 527 c and Corriedale to 469 c. This was a feature on the first day, too.

A further feature in the Timaru offering was the excellent prices between 380 c and 390 c paid for some high yielding Coopworth and crossbred wools from the Fairlie and Mount Peel regions. Yields of 90 per cent were recorded in pre-sale testing. Among leading prices in the Christchurch section of the sale were 657 c paid for four bales of 18.3 micron fine Merino woolly hogget fleece grown by P. and A. Gullidge (Ward) and 641 c for six bales of super fine shorn hogget from the same vendor. A. R. Mackenzie (Wairau Valley) received 610 c for 11 bales of extra fine Merino, P. S. Molineux (Awatere Valley) received 605 for one star lot

bale of super fine woolly hogget, while Richmond Brook station (Seddon) was paid 580 c for four bales of shorn hogget and 529 c for eight bales of medium fleece and 526 c for 12 bales of fine fleece. Among other high prices for Merino fleece wools were 568 c for six bales of fine from R. and S. Low (Wairau Valley), 564 c for five bales and 551 c for seven bales of fine fleece from D. M. Caygill (Clarence), 550 c for 11 bales of extra fine from H. J. Fowler (Wairau Valley), 530 c for four bales from A. M. Harvey (Marlborough Sounds), 528 c for another star lot bale from A. R. Mackenzie, 520 c for four bales from I. and P. Hamilton (Awatere Valley), 518 c for four bales from the Wrightson bins, 512 c for 15 bales of fine fleece from Haycocks Run (Wairau Valley) and up to 508 c for a number of lots of Merino fleece from Waihopai Downs (Waihopai Valley). G. A. Illingworth (Waihopai Valley) sold medium Merino to 516 c (nine bales) and the Haycocks Run received 508 c for another lot of seven bales.

Very good prices for Halfbred were received by W. W. Paterson (Hawarden) who sold 14 bales of extra fine woolly

hogget for 515 c, 21 bales of fine woolly hogget for 509 c, 11 bales of extra fine fleece for 506 c, 45 bales of extra fine fleece for 479 c and 37 bales for 483 c. The same vendor also sold Halfbred necks for 492 c (seven bales).

P. C. Wright (Rangitata Gorge) had a good sale, four bales of woolly hogget bringing 527 c — the top Halfbred price of the sale — and 15 Dales of fine fleece 479 c.

Other high prices for Halfbred wool included 497 c for six bales of extra fine woolly hogget from J. H. Cooke (Rakaia Gorge), 490 c for six bales of shorn hogget from Brookbume Farm (Ward), 482 c and 469 c for four bales of extra fine woolly hogget and 10 bales of fine woolly hogget, respectively, from the Lands ana Survey Department, Okuku Pass (Lobum), 480 c for five bales from Benmore Graziers (Springfield), 463 c and 454 c for four bales of extra fine and 11 bales of fine respectively for P. S. Molineux (Awatere Valley), 456 c for four bales of fine two-tooth wool from Mount Algidus Station (Rakaia Gorge) and 452 c for 11 bales of fine Halfbred woolly hogget in the bins of Wrightson

NMA. Corriedale wool sold to 469 c for D. and J. Carr (Hawarden) for seven bales of woolly hogget R. J. Clarke-Hall (Hawarden) sold six bales of fine twotooth wool for 457 c, and Berrydale Farm (Amberley) sold 14 bales of fine woolly hogget for 454 c. Crossbred and Romney wool reached a peak of 381 c for six bales of two-tooth secondshear from R. Burgess (West Coast), and 377 c for eight bales of second shear from Leadervale Farm (Parnassus). A. Greenslade (Alford Forest) received 376 c for six bales of two-tooth wool, R. and C. Farnell (Rye Valley) was paid 375 c for five bales of shorn Romney hogget. The Lands and Survey (Kapitea) made 373 c for seven bales of fine crossbred, J. R. W. Wilkinson (Tapawera) made 372 c for five bales and H. J. Horn (Rangiora) made 371 c for six bales of crossbred. Perendale reached 372 c for five bales from V. R. Affleck (West Coast), to 371 c for G. J. Faigan (Diamond Harbour) for four bales of shorn hogget, 367 c for five bales of the same description for R. Andrews (Murchison), 363 c for 17 bales

of two-tooth from D. J. and C. T. Blakely (Governor’s Bay), 360 c for 29 bales from P. and D. Adams (Blenheim) and 359 c for five bales from the Camphill Partnership (Waihopai valley). Coopworth sold to a peak of 385 c in the Christchurch section; this price being received by J. and H. Gunn (Darfield) for nine bales. T. J. McKeown (Mount Somers) sold seven bales of shorn hogget wool for 375 c and I. J. Lucas (Ashburton) sold nine bales for 384 c.

For 32 bales of medium Borderdale fleece D. and D. Mackenzie (Waiau) received 355 c, T. J. Ward (Ashburton) received 353 c for four bales of Border Leicester and for the same description J. G. Gunn (Darfield) received the excellent price of 411 c (four bales).

P." S. Molineux (Awatere Valley) sold quarterbred hogget wool (five bales) for 492 c and fine fleece (four bales) for 491 c.

Wrightson N.M.A. offered 1215 lots, 12,774 bales which, together with the first day’s offering, made a total for the Christchurch sale of 3611 lots, 38.070 bales.