ENGLISH WOOL LETTER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 214, 4 June 1919, Page 10

ENGLISH WOOL LETTER

EXTRAORDINARY PRICES

FOR MERINO AND CROSSBREDS. (From Our Special Correspondent.) London, April 9. We are "now belter able to seo tho course of wool values, after witnessing the reception wool has received during the past week. It has indeed been 'a , privilege to witness the sales, and to know tho record prices which havo been ] paid for both merino and crossbred wools. There is a striking contrast behvten the prict;6 wool sold at towards tho end of 1901, when good 40's fleece wools from New .Zealand were?' selling at id. per lb., and good . r >D-56's'at Gd., and that of similar wool sold last week—the latter realising as much as 37d. The; fact is there seems to be no limit to th» ability of certain members of the .trade to pay. They need the wool, otherwise they would not have paid the prices. It speaks wcl for (he inherent strength of the wool position, and without doubt one must recognise that conditions are at work which were never expected. On tho opening <iay of the current series Coleman SI reet : AVool Exchange war crowded. The only fly in the ointment lappearal to be the farthing bids, it bein? ludicrous to see prices bid up to 42d., tho last sixpence being made up in this way. A lot of valuable time was thus wasted, but. no doubt this will be remedied in the near future. Many think lOd. should bo the limit for farthings, and above that nothing less than kl. should be m<l. This would save time and energy, whilst the fiale» would be got through none the less efficienliy. Merinos Making Big Figures. It is really amazing what tremendous prices are being made for merinos. The record price of 48J<1. has been paid lor a super Victorian merino clip m the urease, the brand being. Mount Sturgeon. It was about as perfect a wool -uo could bo grown, the clip being fully 70's to 80's, splendid lenifth, and tho -'clean yield about GO per- cent. One of the. selling brokers sitid the top lot would give 63 ;ier cent filer. , ! yield, but the buyer for one of the best' Bradford spinners who makes a- .speciality of spinning 2-Gfl's to 2-80's counts, and therefore is a regular buyer of these wool*, said that this estimiite wus n'J per cent.,.aud the writer prefers to accent, the latter verdict rather than Hid former. Let us say that itwould be liO per cent., this 'neing decidedly above the average clean yield for merino wool. Of course it went for a special purpose, where fid. per lb. for greasy wool makes very little difference. Then, again, Sydney scoured merino combing wool was sold up to ss. 3d. per lb.; iu fact, tall figures have been pmd for practically everything. When we come to .pieces and bellies thesame story has to lie told. A regular buyer of clothing wools said to the writer yesterday that he preferred to purchase the heat wools to-dny jyiher than Hie faulty, shabby lots. He thought the latter wero equally Rβ deai , as the former, while the best wools con always be used for superior purposes. Some very remarkable figures have been paid for wools from all the different States of the Commonwealth, aud there is !io doubt that buyers are operating expressly with a view of putting' on (he market their old-time ■sppcialiliM. A. regular buyer of locks said to the writer n few days ago that there.was nothing he could touch, tor ho could -buy at pence .per lb. loss (from the Department in Bradford than he could obtain the same wools at in Coinman Stwt. All these facts indicate an exceedingly strong market, indeed, Iho position is stronger than ■ anyone ever dare<i to expecl. , , Some vprv gocd Queensland- wools have liMii catalogued, namely Rockwood, Urn greasy merino broken soiling up to 35Jd, nncks 3(isd. K .fowett/Mr. Marlow for the greasy hrnkeii made S!(l., "eeks same price, whil« M/Beneonsncld sold at up to 30M. for broken, and pieces Slid. Even DSW/Terriek lor the grensy merino combing mode -ifiM. It is worth pointing out that some grenc.y merino lambs from We?!. Australia made the hnndsonie price of 3.--. Id.. and Queensland weaners' wool which is really drcent lambs, have sold at up. to 3s. H.d. quite freely.

Crossbreds. AVliat a scene lias been witnessed here! Talk about liiuii let loose, tlm scene at tiinos has been similar lo suuli un incident. ' Everybody is uiaintaiiiiiig the greatest- ciigerness to be operating. Aβ a matter of fact, the position is such that spinnev-eonibers have led the van, «inl it goes without saying that the majority have been operating without 'limit. "West Victoria has provided some remarkably nice comebacks, often 53's to CD's quality, clean, bright, giving a ciean yield to up to G8 .per cent. Tho wool almost looked as if it had been river-washed like English wool usually is, and certainly it called forth the best buying power of the entire trade. It is 'understood that France has-a permit to buy a good few thousand bales, and so has Belgium, but France certainly lias made 'her influence felt upon the best fine crossbreds and merinos. On tho opening day some Geelona: comebacks made up io*44d., nnd the clean yield here would not be mpre than' CS per cent., while other wools giving a clean yield of 66) per cent, made 420. It lias been a very common thing l'or these fine crpssb'redti, mostly 56's to sell anywhere from 35d. to 38u., in fact the prices paid are enough to make the mouths of all growers water, it must be (said that compared 'with the new issue prices of the Department fine crossbreds are fully 15 pel- cent, dearer, medium crossbreds are 1{ to 10 per cent., and low crossbreds 5 to "<{ per cent, higher than the pr"eent issue price of the Department. Kliped ci'oisiii-ods have not been very plentiful, but have certainly come in for oxceedinjjly keen competition, far above what one might have expected, it has been a revelation to see Bradford merchants purchasing these wools so freely, three-quarter-bred lambs selling up to •i3d. with a uleau yield of 88 per cent, '}.wcester lambs have sold at 3Gd. with a cican yield ot 90 per cent., Leicester lambs -have made 34d., crossbred seconds SOJd., and erossbrats thirds •>sld. On one occasion 28{d. was paid for some ficourcd crossbred pieces, full of sticks and dirt, and most irregular in quality, wools which in the ordinary pre-war days owners would have been glad to have got rid of at a shilling per lb. All these facts servo to show \m exceedingly strong market, and no doubt many wo buying in order to complete their standard yarns and prepare tor a regular civil trade.

London's Effect Upon Bradford. The effect Colcruan Street has. had upon tiie textile trnde in general has to bu considered. There is no doubt that a much-needed lonic has been udmiuistctwl, and mueli new business has been placed since the opening of the sales. Spiniiws did considerable business before the auctions actually opened, many buying through feur of '4he market going ugaiust them. The piece end of the trade was tho slackest, and with out doubt the majority have more than realised that to deter operations nienur, having to pay distinctly more later on. Some regard the position of things as due entirely to liantiu buying, but when all is said and done, with the. gradual release of control and the opening of markets, there is every, likelihood of a great iniluxW business. It is not too much to say 'tlmt if export licenses were freely granted, there would be a boom. However, the effect upon trade in general has certainly been for the good, and the more one thinks of (he possibilities of the industry, tho more onu realises the soundness of the position of wool values. It iviis announced in the sale room last week that GOU.UIW bales of wool arc afloat, but some months must elapse before anything like this weight arrives, and in Iho meautime more machinery m being got to work, and firms generally aro preparing for a big export trade. London has spoken in a very plain and pronounced way. Everywhere the trade has felt its influence, and those who have been holding buck from buying yarns and piecei in the hops of operating morecheaply, realise it is useless postponing buying any longer, hence there has been a big influx of new business both i.'i yarns and pieces. . .