WOOL FOR JAPAN.

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 124, 28 May 1928, Page 12

WOOL FOR JAPAN.

TREND OF TRADE LOOKING TO EXPORT "Evening Post," 28th May. Japanese buying is already an importnut factor in the. Australian wool market, and gives valuable support to that of New Zealand. Japanese buying of raw wool in the country oi production is by no means at its limit. Already an export trade m woollens of Japanese manufacture is found in India and the East generally, and it is growing. Messrs. Winehcombe, Carson, ot Sydney, point out that Japan with her relatively low mill operating expenses compared with those ruling in Great Britain and on the Continent, is a difficult competitor for manufacturers in those quarters to combat. "Her low , wages enable her to bid with special freedom for the wool she required. She is in a position to outbid competitors for the I wool she needs and at the same time undersell them with the fully manufactured goods. Those circumstances render her one of the most influential wool market , factors. Over the past ten months she has ■ been decidedly noticeable in that regard in the case of medium to good merino fleece wools and skirting:-, combacks and erossbreds." In'a recently-issued .special trade supple- . rnent of the ''Japan Advertiser," Tokio, • it is. stated that the nation' before many more years have passed will be making all the. low and medium quality textiles it requires,_and possibly will be cutting a real figure in the export market. In the last two years Japanese manufacturers have made rapid strides, in the technical excellence of their products, and, while the quality of the best Japanese cloths still is far below that of imported weaves, it is far better than that of 1925 and 1924. • The last several years have shown marked recessions in the percentage of the domestic requirements filled by imported textiles, and the time is not far off when the Japanese market will be closed to all foreign piece goods except the high-class worsteds. . The principal Japanese factors in the Australian and New Zealand wool markets are the Mitsui Bussari Kaisha, the Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha, •F. Kanematsu and Company, the Nippon Raw Cotton Company, and lida and Company, an organisation connected "with the Takashimaya Department Stores. Several other agents are not represented in Australia but buy indirectly. The Mitsui and Mitsubishi organisations do most of the business for the Tokio Muslin Company, but they and all the other agents act for all the other wool-consuming mills of Japan. There appear to be no exclusive agencies'). BUYING ARRANGEMENTS. The mills wire their orders to the representatives in Australia and New Zealand, setting a limit and specifying some standard type (quality) of which the agents have samples. If the representative is able to close the deal within the limit he does so and wires his head office in Tokio or Osaka. The head office of the agency then arranges to finance the transaction, and the wool is brought to Japan for manufacture. There are no' fomien middlemen in the" Japanese wool busine?«. Japan deals direct in the Australian and New Zealand markets. In the past foreigners occasionally shipped wool to Japan on consignment, but found that method a source of illimitable woe. Imports of tops last year totalled 5,967,----465 pounds, a decline of 2.580,400 pounds from 1926. At the fame time imports of raw wool totalled 99,238,907 pounds, or 300,754 bales, showing' a gain of 20,154.773 pounds, or about 80,000 bales, over 1920. COPYING DESIGNS. One complaint which 'foreign manufacturers make against the Japanese concerns the copying of samples. M The. piecegopda | trade works? long in advance. Designer.-: i make up samples, and salesmen go throughout the world, soliciting order's, for delivery about twelve mqnths hence. Then the orders based on each sample are collected and manufacturing begins. British samples will be sent to .Japan. The buyers will demand time to look them over. It always is granted. They trot over to a woollen mill and show the samples. The ; Japanese manufacturer lias a copy made of each design which appeals to him and places it on the market. The result is that a cloth of inferior quality which looks just like the British weave,appears.on the Japanese market at the same time as the imported variety. ~ ; TOPS AND RAW WOOL. The new wool policy of Germany-is commended to Japanese manufacturers. In 1927 German makers discovered that Bradfordl conversion costs were lower than their own, and that it would pay them to let their equipment for that operation he idle. Accordingly, Germany bought twice as much top wool from Bradford and other European makers as it had bought in 1926.. This also applies to yarns.Japanese makers are advised to do likewise. For the purpose of this comparison Australian raw wool.and tops are considered, both on the clean scoured basis, at January levels. It must bo remembered that raw wool is imported free of duty. Tops bear an impost of 14.50 yon per picul, which is converted at 2'Ad a Ib. Since raw wool, even though considered on a clean scoured basis, loses more than half its weight when scoured, there are differences in freight and some allowances must be made for the change. Raw Wool. Tops. (64's) . (64's) . . (In pence) Purchase price 45 -51 Vk p.c. commission .. 0% 0% Freight, insurance, and ' interest P/ 2 i% Conversion cost and noil loss 8% — Loss of weight 2 Muty _ <n /z Cost to maker 57% 55^ At present the Japanese mills do not take this factor into account, but an authority on the subject predicts that before long, when domestic competition will become too hot, they will be forced to do EO.