LONDON WOOL SALES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 416, 27 January 1909, Page 10

LONDON WOOL SALES.

THE PINAL VERDICT OF COLEMAN . STREET.-',;'' (FHOM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.): London, December 18, 1908. Coleman Street Wool Exchange lias seen the last for the ourrent year of its regular series of wool 6ales, and another chapter is closed. The history of the colonial .trade for 190S will' Stand out prominently as being marked by considerable difficulty, a slump, nnd a partial recovery. Money has been both lost in heavy amounts and made in considerable quantities, for those who had the pluck to go in and buy either in London or Australian markets from last Marcli to July have come; out all right, and stveral instances are known of members of the trade doing well, notwithstanding the many adverse.factors which have had to be fought against. Pre-eminently the lesson of the whole year's sales is that it is always safe to buy when wool and tops are cheap, but never a wise policy to carry a. lot ,of stock . when prices' are dangerous.. There are still a good few. packs of 40's tops to deliver at Sd. to 3d;, ; at least not a few warehouses are full, arid deliveries waiting to be made of those stocks which were recently sold ,at llid. and . lljd., while scoured skin wools bought in Sydney this. year, in i considerable quantities have left importers a clear profit of 4Jd. to sd. per lb. But what concerns us to-day most' is the record, of the recent series, and, here it is some satisfaction to be ableto chronicle the fact that every description, from locks to super combing, have participated in the rise. No one could sit in> Coleman- Street Wool. Exchange'.without feeling ,'that' .a fai;; different buying spirit per-; yaded. the room,to that seen at any previous '..series this year, and', the continuous activity of. the Continent-and America stood out significantly, and offered a sharp contrast to the phlegmatic and. vacillating attitude previously spen- The quantity available amounted;., to about'lßo,ooo bales.. Of these, as Sckwartzes's point out, 169,000 have been sold; G9.000 bales going for Home consumption, 85,OOObales to the Continent, and 15,000 bales to America, leaving 11,000 bales to be carried forward to the nfext.-series. These foreign purchases . have helped to reduce the quantity; of wool .in sight, and there is now no. loose' talk, about brokers bolstering ;up prices by large withdrawals;, suob as was heard in. unresponsible' quarters all through, the . recent summer. The liolding-over policy'' has paid I well the original owners/of'the raw material, and saved the. trade from' ; more serious disaster. Lookiiig\ over the'list of advances,: as- set fo'r.th in brokers' circulars, the improvement in average may be said; to be from Id. to ljd. per lb. for all descriptions of both merinos :and crossbreds. Naturally, the biggest rise is seen in the best descriptions, although medium .'wools, -botlvgrease,. and; scoured, shared fully in the higher, rates' paid.;;-, What is ;as satisfactory a feature as any'is that Australia's newclip -sold' remarkably .well; withdrawals beings few : indeed. „ From, first to. lftst the Continent competed keenly, -hhd. never, slackened its. .pace, America only ' backing. ■ down- : a little, towards 'the .close when - the character-, of the, wools got perceptibly, worse. The;. Home, traded "ill .through 'the series laboured-and'struggled' ' against-a. strong impression" that the rise was -too.-great'.to' last, anu-as values for the. combed article in. Bradford never got up to, anything 'like; London's' ratps; buyers, from 1 that quarter had to act-with'both caution and reserve.'Sonie •of; Bradford's largest .operators have, been, .liberal; buyers; at Australian centres since Octo : her'i'at 6ensibly le'ss thah London rates, and 1 .fortunately ."or .unfortunately..Worstedoiiolis is !stiU " working ,on this lower basis of prices.. ;SeVeral.,were cjuite prepared to'purchase double the quantity.-they did, b'ut they frankly' admitted that they, saw no justification for..such ■increased "rates;- and' preferred" to take, their .chance -till 'January ,in the hope of being able ,to buy j at'less either in London ot elsewhere. 7 ; \ We' .ar.O'now' .able to ..see what have 'been ;the< .takings.of the two most important sections of. tlie trade—Home and Continental—during the' year, and an analysis of the following table shows. tliat .even.: the Continental' trade, with all its' activity, actually took less, than at the -fifth sehes, while the ,purchases of the Home' ;,trade .are . a long way the lowest of any series I this year. . Various constructions can' be jjut upon this fact, and how fur its- action is ■justified, only succeeding events can "tell. In thd "table below' we show the takings of the trade on export, and Home account as bought in London during each"series for'the-last two 'years, aid the'figures are. worth considering:— ;•'■ 7 1907. ' ( 1003. V ,aJT Conti- .. ' Conti- ;' .j ' • nental.., Home.,, nenfal,. Haipe? Bale's. Bales.■ ' Bales."-Batte. First series.,. .60,000 .7-7,000 70,000 81,000 Second series 60,000 94,000 44,000 77,000 -Third series...- 51,000 . 92,000 51,000 90,000 Fourth series 55,000 84,000 70,000 102,000 Fifth series... 33,000 5-1,000 102,000 109,000 Sixth series... 56,000 55,000 ■ ;;85,000 69,000, ... . •315,000 456,000. . 428,000''528,UU0 The outlook is not so depressed as it was, not-, withstanding: that'during tlie last fortnight, in ■Bradford a slight ease, has been seen.. That .centre is apt to overlook the fact that it-now no longer is the sole determining power of'wool .values, both the Continent and-America .'having ah important; say .in the matter.. Prices are liot unreasonably high, and although we want to; see'a , move at the manufacturing end of .the industry, still we believe that the consumption is larger than many suppose. "We ,are 'certain to'see slight fluctuations, .but as far as one can judge-'., to-day's rates will not show a great deal of variation just yet. The bank .rate at 2£ per cent., .with a likelihood of 2 per cent, with' the turn of the' year, compared with 7 per cent, a year ago, isjiound' to help favourably . wool prices, and. particularly 'im'poijters.',.; •. AN EASIER TENDENCY. ' '' j "

•. Already. the : shadow of the coming holidays is upoii the imarket, and things are • assuming a very, quiet appearance."As briefly mentioned laSt-weet. a distinctly easier tendency'is everywhere in evidence, tnd prices are .generally id. lower all round. There is no gainsaying tho fact that Bradford to-day is still the cheap-, est market in the.'world;. and even >at that little'business is doing.- The fact of'the matter is, there seems ,to -bp now .a tendency on -,tho part of the majority; to simply mark time, most topmakers frankly'.'stating that not particular whether they' dp-more business or. : not for,'_the time'being; Wool from the recent, sales is being 'taken- in ivith 1 considerable freedonl, and no* time is. being-lost in getting it. off to' comb.' Even this month some fair big deliveries of'tops have to be'made, and; that being so there is in'evidence-a good deal of ac-tivity.--No new features are to be noted;-arid: the last two 'or three' inarket days /have been' t decidedly quiet, even' lower quotations not being ;sufficient - to'.- induce - new orders. .: At the same time it is'not too much to say that thereis sufficient, interest-in the, market /to; prevent' things slipping back'a great deal. Bids made last/Monday at .23d. for '6-Vs tops were refused all round tho market, ,arid nobody would sell under- 23Jd'., .some' wanting even ; '24d; ;Colonialb.ought. wo.bl is arriving in moderate quantities, and everything looks Very cheap_ compared with recent''.purchases in London. Even these will not'.'.'domany -importers the' amount 'of' gooi that they- should' owing to tops being sold- forward l at too. low a basis.' Spinners are taking in some-fair weights; as stocks I ,with them are very, low;'but at „the same time they, could do considerably more if particulars came to hand more freely. There seems now a general feeling, to let. things. quietly rest, until the turn of- the year,, and' to ;,all appearance ;we are likely' to. see' a/quiet time well into January. Real actual', yarn-: and niece trade: business is movirig ■ much' too: slowly.;, to mean increased aotivity and' a- further upward tendency of values, and we- shall -do well if to-day's rates are maintained. The private cables from. Australia: and.Buenos/. Ayres , report less,keenness and eagerness to purchase wool, and here and there less, quptations are being sent over. How-ever,'-/there ;,is nothing-as yet to warrant the id. which lias taken' place in all quali- . ties of merino and;,oros'sbred-tops. Mohair is quiet, but prices are firm. .