Quality cashmere wanted

Press, 23 September 1988, Page 18

Quality cashmere wanted

PA Auckland The increasing amount of contaminated cashmere fibre coming out of China was good news for New Zealand producers, says a visiting textile manufacturer, Mr Geoff Smith. An estimated 1000 tonnes of dehaired or partially dehaired cashmere contaminated with wool and other fibres is expected to be stockpiled by the end of the year. So for Joseph Dawson, Ltd, Britain’s third largest textile company and a major exporter of highquality knitwear, the pressure is on to find quality cashmere. Now over halfway through a three-year contract with New Zealand to take a minimum of 66 per cent of its cashmere, the

company is already negotiating with the MohairCashmere Warehouse in Pukekohe to make a further commitment of up to 10 years. Under the present contract, prices are set twice a year at 5 per cent above the international price. For 16.5 microns down, Dawson’s has been paying SUSIOO a kilogram for top fibre and SUS 76 a kilogram for 16.5 to 18.5 microns. “It has never been a better time for people to get into goat farming and the future is bright and rosy,” said Mr Smith, who is the technical director of the Dawson International Group. New Zealand cashmere production is not exected to reach 100 tonnes until 1990 or 1991, but Mr

Smith said it was “all a numbers game” and he was keen to encourage more people to go into goat farming.

A spokesman for the Pukekohe Warehouse, Mr Andrew Sinclair, said getting into goat fibre production was more attractive now than 12 months ago because of the fall in the value of the New Zealand dollar and favourable livestock prices.

With China processing more of its own cashmere and selling fibre of variable quality “you haven’t much to beat,” Mr Smith said. /

It Had come to the point where China, which had “millions of goats, is getting interested in what’s going on here.”