OUTLETS FOR WOOL

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LV, Issue 37, 11 May 1934, Page 7

OUTLETS FOR WOOL

POSSIBILITIES IN THE EAST.

CONTINENTAL PURCHASES,

It may not be generally appreciated that 51.7 per cent, of the wool sold in Sydney last season went to the Continent, and of the whole of the wool shipped from Australia and New Zealand 45 per cent, went to the Continent, states "Warp" in the "Sydney Mail."

Taking the Continental countries as a whole, therefore, they are our best wool customers. The United Kingdom purchases in Australia and New Zealand amounted to 27 per cent., and the shipments to the East to 18 per cent: In Other words, the shipments to the Continent were equal to the combihed purchases of England and the East. The figures are not quoted with any idea of belittling the great support given by the "United Kingdom or Japan, but merely to show that the Continental consumption of Australian wool is a very vital factor in the success of Australian wool-growing.

The Continental support goes even further, because, of the 640,500 bales of "colonial" wool sold in London during last year, 305,000 bales (47 per cent.) went to the Continent. The demand is more in evidence in Sydney and Brisbane than in other centres, by reason of the fact that a larger proportion of suitable wools i is offered in these two centres. In the pre-war years France was! frequently the largest * individual j wool-buying country operating in the! Sydney market, and Germany second largest. After the war the Continental purchases were set back; but their buying has expanded gradually and now assumes major proportions. Although conditions on the Continent have been far from normal during the last few seasons, there has been a very gratifying increase in buying activity in this market during the present and previous seasons. Despite the magnitude of Continental support, it is clear that the major , developments of the future in regard to wool will lie in the East. The Continental countries may strive to eke out foreign wool supplies with locally-produced artificial fibres and shoddy so as to balance imports and exports, but the awakening East provides big opportunities for further expansion. Great as is the progress made in Japan, the maximum point is still a long way off, and new users of woollen clothing are being introduced each year to its merits. The developments in China during the next decade may be equally surprising as have been those in Japan during the last ten years.