WOOL MARKET

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 55, 13 September 1928, Page 12

WOOL MARKET

NEXT YEAR'S CLIP ' FORECAST OF PRICES SEYEKE COMPETITION (By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.") DUNEDIN, This Day. Bradford and Boston will not bo prepared to pay the high prices ruling at the close of the last wool season, and the New Zealand wool growers can expect prices reduced to the level of those rulign at the end of the season, is the conviction of Mr. E. J. P. Denny, of J. W. Swift and Co., who has returned to Duuedin after a six months' visit to the woollen manufacturing districts of England, the Continent, and America. "We will not see low prices in the next few years, but we cannot expect any high prices, because the trade cannot pay and the public will switch to wool mixtures if the prices of their garments are increased," said Mr. Denny. "Trade is very bad at the present time, both in Bradford and Boston. All the manufacturers are losing money, and the English manufacturers are. suffering from very strong competition by Continental wool buyers. That is due chiefly to the cheapness of labour and the longer hours worked by the Continental employees. In prices they are undercutting the British manufacturers. Both Franco and Germany arc busy, and large quantities of their material are being offered in Britain at prices lower than the prices at which the English manufacturers can turn out the goods. CLASSES IN DEMAND. "There was bound to be a good demand for crossbred wools during the coming season," said Mr. Denny, "as the stocks were very light, but all tlfo manufacturers declared that they could not pay the high prices ruling last year. They anticipated buying wool at about the prices ruling in New Zealand in December and January of last year, or easily 10 per cent, lower than the closing rates of the immediate past season. That applied to medium and coarser wools. Halfbred wools were likely to be from 10 to 15 per cent, lower, while merinos, owing to tho large increase of supplies in Australia, would be considerably cheaper, about 15 per cent. "MAY BE WEIGHTY INFLUENCE." "Of course, a great deal depends upon the competition we have from the Continent and Japan," said Mr. Denny. "These two sections seem to be fairly busy, and they may have a weighty influence on the market, but from what I heard in Bradford 4he buyers are not prepared to pay tho prices ruling at tho end of last year. Already contracts have been made for deliveries on a much lower scale during the months from November to January. "Manufacturers are complaining about tho shortness of the weights of the wool on arrival at their destination," said Mr. Denny. He had heard many complaints, not only from English manufacturers, but from the Continent and America. There had also been complaints about the unevenness of a great number of the smaller clips. Ho was also sorry to say that somo of tho importers complained that somo of the wools wore not mirly packed. If this attitude was maintained, the Dominion's wools would be given a bad name, but he was glad to bo able to say that only a few farmers wore not sending wool up to the required standard. DEPKESSED INDUSTRY. The textile industry in.England was suffering from a depression, and cotton was tho worst sufferer. The cause was tho cheaper manufacturing basis obtaining on tho Continent, and in the East, particularly in Japan. Tho Continent and tho East were buying raw materials in the primary market", and wero exporting to England at prices which the English manufacturer found it difficult to compote with. Most of the machinery used in the manufacture of foreign goods was made in England. The makers had supplied foreign markets with the latest machinery. This had placed England's competitors on a much bettor basis than the Old Country manufacturers. English manufacturers were also hampered by a high income tax imposed for the payment of the War Debt, and unemployment was also a great menace. It was a pit.y, said Mr. Denny, to see so many strong ablebodied men drawing tho dole. POSITION IN AMERICA. "Shockingly bad," was Mr. Denny's report of the state of the textile trade in Boston. For the business offering there was tlio strongest of competition. There was too much machinery, and in then- desire to keep big plants going the manufacturers were quoting prices which hardly paid them, and in a great many cases they were left with no margin of profit. In America wools had a great competitor in artificial silk, and tho same applied to cotton. Very few women in the United States wore woollen apparel, their garments being of silk or artificial silk. Practically the only woollen trade was in men's wear, but a large amount of inferior wools, principally from China and other Eastern countries, was being used for motor upholstery. Trade generally in America was good, manufacturers being assisted, by low income tax and a high population. A wonderful recovery from the effects of the war was noted on tho Continent by Mr. Denny. Iv all branches of industry in Germany, it was good that the people were settling down to

long hours of hard work and low rates of pay. Germany was out to capture the foreign markets as far as she was able.