LONDON WOOL SALES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 197, 15 May 1920, Page 3

LONDON WOOL SALES

BIG PRICES FOR MERINOS

Although we w aro ,not seeing merinos •oil' in the neighbourhood of 93d. for j. grease combing, we tire still witnessing, 75d.- to.Sld-'for West Victorian merinos. For. instance, HL in diamond/Pine Views! Noorenda; WYB/C lent- and. BBN/Crasr feld all made 79d.,- not a bad price con-' f". sidering the wools were hardly equal to ■ the very cream offered in December. ; Other "medium.: quality wools; showing good sound characteristics have sold ..at 70d. to 75d., and they will produce a.good • warp.TO.'s .tops, easily spinning. .upu to il-G(rs. The. writer calculates. Ithat a • ; good':warp 64's top win" be ..mtidci'tbid.Vy out of wool .bought in London at lli.'Ctl.,and average tops, can ,be made at 3d. to 6d. less. One cannot but fed pleased ; at the strong.-healthy demand for good [ combing - merino wools, ,•' and the fact' :''remains that, anything showing good length and character is to-dhy fully -5; pei' ccnt. dearer than at the opening. There, is no more satisfactory feature of the auctions than the very, healthy demand for merinos. . Even. America, lias/'come in.and bought more liberally during the last few; day's than during the ; earlier part of theories. Scoureds, too,' have 6old very freely, in fact, .the best, wools are still touching in the neighbourhood of lOOd.i and any of the free, clean, ' Queensland • scoureds would 'still fetch , well on the top side of the figure named. ; . The Continont is still in the market, but ■' is by no means a. free buyer of faulty carbonising wools, and only the most .. urgent needs rfre being covered ■in the v hope that tho ixchange wilr right itself. As a .matter of .fact, the entire position '••/is very tantalising, in -this ■ particular, : because even a. reasonable exchange would . lead to-great competition on (ho part of France in particular, while Belgium ' and. Holland appear" to -bo 'satisfying their .. needs .at Antwerp.' . Melbourne ? scoured skin wools of very good style, length, ana.colour have sold.readil.v. Some very good-brands of .skin wools come from .Melbourne and, Geelong,'- and theso are always well got-up. The colour is .usually, excellent, and there is abo.ut the w0015,., although• usuallyi biirry, sonie- . thling which attracts most buyers. Comebacks of 60's quality have touched 83:1., 58's -70d.,. sG's GGd.,- 50's 48d., Ws «d„ ■ and 44's38d;, these prices being for clothing, descriptions. 1•• • > ;

Increasing Interest in Crossbreds.

_ Perhaps the outstanding feature ia, the increased interest shown in , crossbrede, and the Homo trade here, is by far the principal buyer, Everything from.s6'3 ; : upwards is now. sj)er cent, above the opening day.',.. ; Medium crossbreds are quit© this much dearer, and -while . low sorts are not quotably dearer'there .have ben fewer withdrawals. . Nothing has sur.prised the writer more 'than the' exfia.' ordinary , prices still-rilling for -Geelong corijebacks, and for wools in the'gteaso of; this', description, 63d.has been/■ paid einco last • writing. Of: course'' these i wools are really;. SB's. to GO'S quality, ; tssenCially tip-top spinners' iwools, the ; top of which s can be'/blended with merinos; in fact big weights'of these comebacks are : used' 'where high-class' ;• hosiery 'yarns are wanted, these 58's comer .'backs producing'a-fine jlblobby" yarn, i the very thirig'for hosiery fabrics. Since ; the | termination of- the'.war--there-. has been increasing interest shown in these .wools, while consumption gets larger as months go by. Even'greasy New Zealand halfbreds have, sold on the top side of •40d., while even greasy 50's to 56> .halfbred lambs, yield 71' per cent.', have made up to 41d., and scoured 48's lambs'of good colour arid condition,'about 2f inches long, have realised -45|d. These certainly are wry . good prices, being a distinct . . indication of' a strong market. Medium • crossbreds in the'grease from Now Zealand are'selling anywhere from 23d, to 27d.y while deep 40's" fleeces'a re moving anywhere from-19d. to 23d.. according to length-and condition. There seems to.be a .never-failing,.stream. oL.imr.ry cro6sbreds from Australia, "and these wools are hanging fire.'" South African Wools. \ Mp're a.re /taking place, and Jthis week there- have'-'been « seme nice offerings .of South American I grease .and scoured wools. . Tho writer 1 does not think that' any higher prices are ruling for any description of Caps wools compared with last series; in fact,' Jn the n'bsence.of tfeal active, Continental competition, . the market can enly be , called steady with Gape values about firm. It is resilly wonderful ©.'.absence of about threo buyers can make a big difference in the 'market' for Cape'wools; and if two Bradford topmelcers are away, other buyers have it a good deal 'their own way, that is if 'France is not active.. We consider-that good-12 months' coml> MR wools are "selling oir.a clean basis of 11M., medium topma&ing wools at about JOOd., and short sir months parcele\ of. About 75d, to 78d. bnsis. Latest cables from tho Cape -clearly - indicate that values are quite as'high aa in London,: both Jiipan-and America still being keen to operate'. ' That is the position to-day, jnd we hardly think anybody ia l justified in / looking for higher values . for South African wools. A very good demand is reported from Port Elizabeth for the best snow whites.■ Here in London the very. creaai can be purchased' at about !00d.; in fact, ; that; price has i Bot been reached; this series, .butvwhen all if\ , said done, the- market is , healthy, steady, and sound, and every-, tmng_ indicates a very healthy. position.-' Anienca, this'series has been quieter'than' ■ SSpV'H I . all the. same .the teriog look' IlE? .finishing at the best-point, • Wool Profiti. As already _ indicated',. "a great hubbub has been raised over spinners' profiti, , one leading Labour member of tho Profiteering Committee, stating that spinners nave been making from 400 to over 8000 per cent.! . He says that this is the' fonding of the Central Profiteering: Comtmtf.ee. and nnless tlie Board of .Trade publishes the details, then ho toII stump the country proclaiming them. The cry. will break no; bones and lead to no alteration. He also ohaigos the Government with making oolossal profits' out of Australian wool. The Labour leader forgets the all-important fact that these' ' ti h/ive been made at pufclio. auction, po where does the profiteering come m? Spinners, too. have been com-, " pietely at the mercy of circumstances' which they could not control, and thero tc ? ot i.° I Lab 9 l } r leader anywhere' who if ho had twelve men demanding his goods, would not extract the uttermost forthmg. Any sensible man who will < review -the' circumstances which have wis'Ti owing to the' world shortage, can. . not but seo how with a multitude of customers demanding .in-artiole, tho prodacticri of which was limited, tho price of that article was\ forced to ■ rise abnor-' mally. No man/in his. senses will work to-day on the very email pre-war days Margins. ~ Even-the conversion costs of the War Office would ,temot no man to ■ invest capital to-day and run the gigantic risks which every .firm owning machinery is running. Margins to-day. are not what they were six months ago, and ' one can only expect that in time margins will become even narrower. It does not matter what price topmakers, Bpin- .. ners or manufacturers name,-they have ft dozen men waiting for the article, 'and if. one would not pay it, half a dozen otht'rs would btt on the door steps,,waiting for the chance to buy. Outstanding facts aro ignored by those who are laising the cry. However, spindles and speed in an endeavour to turn out what looms: are being run with the ' utmost . the public wants... . . . ..