DOMINION WOOL

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 118, 15 November 1945, Page 7

DOMINION WOOL

NEW PROCEDURE IN BRITAIN (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright.)

LONDON, November 14. Facilities for the limited commercial importation of Dominion wool into Britain are putting new life into the industry, and firms are believed to be taking full advantage of the permission to buy through Dominion agents from Dominion supplies.

However representative United Kingdom stocks may be at the moment, they cannot hope to embody the full range of types to be found in the Dominion markets, and now that the firms here are hoping gradually to return to their pre-war style of trade, they are looking for the particular wools they were accustomed to use. These are now brought within their reach by the direct import facilities, and though there has been some disappointment in trade circles because sterling payment is required to be made in London within 14 days of the date of sale to the buyer's agent in the Dominions, it is officially explained that this does not interfere with the .financing of transactions by letters of credit, if the terms" of the credit provide for payment in London on or before prompt day in the Dominions.

The chief consideration is that to purchase wool in the Dominions is no dearer than to buy from spot supplies here, as adjustments have been made to cover those items of cost —such as freight—which are included in the price of wool bought here but are borne by the importer as a separate charge in the case of wool bought direct from Dominion suppliers. Taking these costs into account, the cost of wool bought here is exactly on a par with that bought in the Dominions, and the latter carries the advantage of wider selection. 111-informed reports that United Kingdom buyers obtain preference over buyers from other countries in the new Empire wool prices are without foundaiton and call for correction. They probably arise from a,misunderstanding of the British Government subsidy on wool clothing for the, British people, but that does not alter the fact that British buyers of Dominion wool pay the same price as all others. After paying that price for the wool, British firms are required to sell under cost to British spinners and manufacturers when the wool is to be used to. make cloth for home consumption, and are then reimbursed by the authorities to the extent of the difference between buying price * and the lower selling price. That is how the British subsidy on civilian clothing operates, but it gives the wool buyer no preference in the price he pays. He is merely reimbursed by the authorities for selling at what would otherwise be an uneconomic price, and this applies only to that' portion of his turnover which goes into goods for final consumption inside Britain.

British firms who buy wool against their rations in the Dominions may not have that wool discharged at ports en route, the reason being that such pur-, chases are not linked up with machinery requirements here and the wool must come forward for United King-, dom processing in due time. The export of Dominion wool is possible, but under an entirely different procedure.