THE WOOLLEN TRADE

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 45, 17 November 1920, Page 7

THE WOOLLEN TRADE

« ■ ' ; STOCKS AND PRICES. The woollen trade was the subject! of some comment in the' September "Bulletin" of the British Department of Over- . seas Trade. "There as generally little change in s the positoin of t'.ie raw ■ material, for although at the present series of London wool auctions 'prices have shown a rather firmer tendency, the ad- ' vance is not. pronounced, and can hardly be taken as indicating tlhat lowest • prices have been touched,' said the official publication. "In certain grades dei mand 1 hits been induced by epecial circumstances. such as that, for finer quali-, ties of merino'wools, wJiluli were in special request owing to the scarcity of those grades suitable for good warps; but for . the commoner sorts of wool, demand has been little, if any, more' brisk than formerly. Stocks generally are rather heavy, and the opinion is expressed tlhat prices have not yet touched their lowest level. ■ , "Export inquiries have been Tattler more numorous, although the uncertainty • regarding prices Jins materially restncuOu the resultant business, and exporters are desirous of considerable expansion in overseas demand.. With regard to woollen textile goods, the position shows little improvement. Buyers of cloth are holding off -pending the establishment of a more reliable basis of prices, and demand consequently, leaves much to be defired. It is, however, believed that the price difficulty is almost wholly responsible for the .present slackness, and manufacturers confidently anticipate ac-tive-d'emand when buyers are satisfied that prices havo reached a more or less settled level. Much the same difficulty Is experienced with .regard to the overseas demand, and the outlook generally appears to be dependent, to a degree, upon future price movements.