LONDON WOOL SALES

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 45, 17 November 1920, Page 3

LONDON WOOL SALES

AN ALL-ROUND DECLINE IN VALUES (Prom Our Special Correspondent!.) m , , . (..London,' September 30. .The position revealed at .'the raw material end bv an examination of what, has happened at the' London sales cannot be 'said to be entirely 'satisfactory. First of all. ijierejs.the fact that the Committee of Loiidon Wool Brokerß lias 'announced the decision of tho Department of Raw Materials that the auctions '""ill close on October 1. This was quite expected by anyone having an inijniato tnowledge of the position with regard to the raw material, and has met with general approval,'. With trade as it is at present, 133,000 bales is a large weight to offer during one series, particularly in view of the/quantifies which will, be Drought forward in Australia ■ during next 'month. So far as the offerings themselves have been concerned, there has been little cause for complaint, a decent show of merinos having been available, though TVesit Victorians, Have been absent, and anyone wanting to trarchase wool of this class of good length has to be : satisfied with the offerings of Tasmanians and 'Sydneys, 'these having been chiefly of 70's to 80's quajjty, the latter possessing'good sliafty'staple The Sydney wools havo also been mostly of ifl's quality, and in the case of New EngInnds finer lots have also been available. _ Ordinary merinoß have been offered in fair weights', the West Australians being generally of good 6i's quality, though these have often been tender and on the short. side. With .regard to the position of prices, an all-round '. decline has taken place, and the. auctions are coming to a close with prices on about a par with those recorded during tho first week. Naturally, thoße who were originally- intending to wait till the third,week, and who have had definite buying to do. liave been compelled to operate, and this has prevented any- further decline. The best merinos have maintained their prices host of any, the decline in these being about 7} per cent., but the best Tasmanian wools have declined about 10 per cont. compares with last sales, whilst ordinary and shabby lots-have been '! at least 15 per cent, down. Position of Crossbreds. The most remarkable feature about the sale of crossbreds has been the depreciation winch has.' taken . place in Bcoureds around 58's quality. ' D living the second week some of these sold exceedingly well, but tho advance recorded during the previous series was entirely lost during the first week of the current auctions, "tho depreciation in prices being as much mi'ls. to 20 per cent, in some cases. Good scomeds of the quality named, which would have realised std. at the last series, having been sold. at about. 42d. The declension in freasy wools lias been less marked!; but tome trade competition,- which was a feature of the sales when this class of raw material was being offered last line tions,. has recently entirely disappeared ■For fine greasy wools the decline has often been quite 10 per cent.,'this applying, to the better offerings as well as the shabby lots. Good New Zealand - 56'g have realised around 2Gd., and burrv" Sydney 56's around 23d. The.selection of ?*ew Zealand wools during'the second jveek of the sales lias , been of an allround directs:", though, slipes have .not been represented. Greasy wools have continued to sell irregularly at about last ■week's figures, and tliere has been i a repetition of previoiiff conditions with regard to medium and low sorts. Thesa nave been considerably, affected by tho fact that the Government roserve limits liave apparently been considerably above the ■ prices which can be realised fir _ corresponding wools in the Soutn American /market. Thev« has been little apparent difference.' between the reserve price for; greasy 4i'» to 46's offered in London and the clean, scoured price of corresponding qualities of Buenos Aires; 40's and 44's have alsn afforded another example of the disparity in prices.- The value of Soiitli American wool of these ' qualities .has, been, u bout Is. in the grease, but'4o's to ,4-4'» liave. been withdrawn in London because nobody in the sale room has been prepaied to bid up to 16d. Practically (■peaking no decline can be recorded in .those wools, because for some time com-, petition has only been forthcoming for them at prices equal to,or : below/ the re-, serve figures. The .quantity actually disposed of has, however, become less, and while it mny be stated that about 40 per cent, of-the crossbred • offerings liave been disposed of, the proportion of medium and low sorts which has. actually passed the hammer has not reached 20; per cent. • v Decline in Capes. ' •; • Cape wools have sold no better than Australian, ft marked decline • having taken place in every class of wool offered. Up to the time of writijig only one sale has been held, about 3000 bales being.offered, but the prices realised for fcreasy wools were 10 to 15 per cent; lower, whilst scoureds'depreciated 20 to 25 per cent". Only about one-quarter of the offerings were sold, and there is no doubt that .the wool disposed of has had to j*o at considerably lower prices than holders would have anticipated a month or "two ago. Superior snow whites.- which in August were withdrawn at 75d., cannot be sold to-day at 65d.,.the highest bid forthcoming being 55d. Decent 10 to 12 months' greasy wool, of rather hcayy condition, has realised around 21d., even wool of fully 12 months' growth only commanding around G2d., clean scoured. Ths Industrial Position. The industrial outlook in tho wool textile trade is anything but satisfactory, due to the probability of an- increasing pmouml of short time having to be worked. In various sections large.numbers of operatives. have_ either been placed on short time or dismissed. ■ apd until more actual • business develops, the present state of affairs may be.expected to continue. The idea of short- lime cannot but .be unpalatable to many of the operatives, particularly in view of the present lush cost of living, and employers of labour are also viewing Hie situation with a certain amount of apprehension. Under ordinary circumstances the season.of the year would bo approaching when mills and factories would all he busils engaged, or nrepiiring for a 'good spell of winter's work. To-day, however, this cannot be . said to be tho case, 1 -" and though it-is not advisable, to draw too doleful a. picture, the conditions which might exist in the absence of * some revival of business, and in the event of a hard winter being experienced—whinh some are venturing to prophesy—would Iw a long way from'being of aji enviablo kind. Efforts have been made to introduce short time in" the mille in as .uniform a manner as possible. . The question . has been oonoidered by ■ the Woollen and Worked Trades' Federation and by . the Wosted Spinners' Federation. ■ Tliey do pot proposo that firms who are well supplied with orders, and "who in otfier re*, swots have nothing to hinder the mailing of their machinery full-time, shall introduce any curtailment of working hours, but where eliort time is necessary the desire has been expressed that mills shall be uniformly closed down from the Friday night to Mid. following Tuesday morning. .It would, of course, lie a most unwise policy for. short time to be introduced in mills where there is actually sufficient work available to keep nil hands going, but there appears Co havo neen leanings in this direction among «>mo of the employer*. Tho Trade's Real Need. T he importance of firdnce has been by no means diminished during runout weeks, it being xjuite correct to say that a great doaj still • hangs upon it. Tho tightness which now exists, is, nf. course, largely duo to the extreme level to srhich values rose, followed by the relent decline. The inevitable result has been that those more nearly connected irith the consuming public havo had to begin to face a drastic revorsal of circumstances, though hitherto, thsre has lot yet been a decline in fully manufactured goods corresponding to the'fall vhicli has token place "raw materials, ['he fact of tho matter is to-day that here is a deadlock at the ultimate confining end of the trade. Travellers vho have been in various countries on die Contineut report that all their .-lienta say that the goods offered are liitte satisfactory so far as quality, apjearanee. and suitability for thei purpose or which they ;Ko intended, are conmrned. but when it comes to price it Is

a different matter. They candidly admit they want the goods* hut that they are unable to pay the figure asked. Topmaking firms and others more nearly counectrd with th'e raw material are, of course, well aware of the circumstu.ucei> which exist and are expressing the opinion that a move definite movement in the way of cutting losses ought to Inmade in order to make actually possible the business which is being held up. Tli.cy affirm "that this is what .they arc having to do in their own case. Undoubtedly tho urgent need at the present time is for'the questions of finance and exchanges to be seriously tnken. In hand in order that business may be placed on a sounder and more workable basis.