PROSPECTS FOR WOOL VALUES

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 2, 28 September 1937, Page 8

PROSPECTS FOR WOOL VALUES

Coming Selling Season

PERHAPS NOT QUITE AS HIGH AS LAST YEAR

Dominion Special Service.

Dunedin, September 27.

Though the world market for wool is in a very healthy state and there is nothing to suggest that there might be a slump in the near future, it is considered unlikely that this season’s New Zealand clip will bring prices quite as high as those which resulted in an almost complete clearance last selling season.

Brokers approached to-day said that financial fluctuations in Europe were likely to have an effect on the new season’s values.

The consignment of New Zealand wool for Japan last year, it was stated, totalled over 120,000 bales, practically one-fifth of the clip, but it is not expected that Japan will be nearly as heavy a buyer again this year. One of the reasons given for this expectation is that an attempt is being made to control exchange, and the Government is Issuing licences to Japanese users to govern their importation of wool from New Zealand, as well as from most other countries. Speculating is not to be allowed and steps are being taken to ensure that imports are for immediate consumption only, and no more than sufficient to keep mills going. “New Zealand still has to lean on Great Britain for its main support,” one experienced broker said. "Trade in England has been very good and it is likely to remain good at. least for the next year or two. Wool prices have not been abnormally high.” He added that the exchange rate of nearly 25 per cent, had been of great advantage to Dominion growers. ‘Terhaps prices will not bo quite as high this year as they wore last season, but stocks throughout the wooheonsuming world are bare and the demand is very firm. England is much more prosperous than she was and vastly more wool is being used for clothing, carpets and upholstery. There is a very big demand from the motor-car industry for lower grades, and that is a real influence toward maintaining the market.”

The New Zealand selling season will open at. Auckland on November 27, and t.he first Dunedin sale is on December 21. “We expect another good season,” a reporter was assured. “The world wants wool and values have not been too high. Probably Japan will not be as prominent a buyer this year, but there is no reason to expect any serious or even marked falling away in values.”