Secondhand wool bales draw Soviet complaints

Press, 27 September 1986, Page 24

Secondhand wool bales draw Soviet complaints

-PA Wellington X By trying to make an extra $5 on a $5OO to $6OO wool bale, farmers are endangering a $l3O million market The Minister of Overseas Trade and Mar,keting, Mr Moore, has sent a message from Moscow to the Wool Board in Wellington, complaining of bales arriving in bad condition.

The managing director of the Wool Board, Mr Bernie Knowles, said some of the bales sent to the Soviet Union had already been circulating within New Zealand. They .inight have been repaired, and sold back to farmers ' at about $5 less than new ones.

The average farmer would use about 120 bales

a year, meaning a saving of $6OO if he bought secondhand. The Wool Board directorate has six grower representatives and four others.

While $5 a bale might not seem much of a saving, it had to be seen in the context of some farmers’ taxable income being only $lO,OOO to $12,000, Mr Knowles said. “If you went to a hillcountry farm in southern Hawke’s Bay or Wairoa where they were producing 100 bales, and said $5OO was not significant (for 100 empty wool bales) there would be violent disagreement,” he said.

The problem was the Soviet Union took only eight to 10 per cent of

New Zealand wool, and most of the rest was taken out of bales and cleaned for other markets. In the latter case bales still in reasonable condition were re-used.

When shearing sheep, the farmer did not know where the wool would be heading, Mr Knowles said. If only new bales were used each time the farmer sheared, it could cost New Zealand about $l5 million a year extra, he said.

The board was trying to find an answer to the problem which seemed to be mostly about the bales not having enough room on them for more labelling information. Envelopes or metal tags may have to be used, Mr Knowles said.

He confirmed that some bales sent could have holes in them after “grab samples” had been taken.

“When there are bits of wool protruding from the bale it looks like nothing on Earth,” he said.

The Soviet Union wool markets would be worth $125 to $l4O million this year, and returns to the farmer for the type of greasy wool sent was $5OO to $6OO a bale, he said. A processing company representative in Moscow, Mr Michael Dwyer, said New Zealand wool was not being processed in the right way because of “undoubtedly sub-standard” packaging and labelling. "It is very shoddy workmanship,” he said.