WOOL GROWERS PLEASED

Evening Star, Issue 22026, 11 May 1935, Page 14

WOOL GROWERS PLEASED

WOULD PRICES IMPROVING WINTER SALE IN DUNEDIN GERMAN ATTEMPT TO SECURE SUPPLIES For the first time in the history of the roster of wool auctions in New Zealand, special sales will be held in the various centres during the winter to give growers an opportunity of selling, at the higher prices now ruling, the wool which they resolved to carry over from the past selling season. The Dunedin sale will probably take place in July. A crutching sale is usually held in Dunedin in September, and this fixture will again be observed this spring.. During the past season the hold-over was exceptionally large, many buyers placing too high a value on their clips. Brices certainly improved towards the end, but the limited catalogue at the final Dunedin auction did not fill. A very reliable estimate of the amount of "carry-over wool in Dunedin stores and on the stations is 25,000 bales, and it is with the object' of giving the sheep-owners an opportunity of gaining an early return, instead of having to wait till the first regular sale in December next, that the Dunedin Woolbrokers’ ’ Association has announced its intention to hold a midwinter auction.

Although prices have risen in London since the New Zealand sales series concluded, there is little likelihood of any quantity approaching the holdings being offered at the coining sale, and at the best estimates the offering will be between 5,000 and 10,000 bales. The first special sale in New Zealand will be at Wellington in July, and nearly a month will elapse before the buyers reach Dunedin, after attending additional auctions in the north. A number of factors have contributed towards the general improvement in wool prices, and many growers foresee even greater rises, and. consequently, are not prepared to sell on the rising market which is shortly to be offered them. One of the main reasons for the increased values is that the quantity of wool held in London is not large. The wool production last season was equivalent to a normal year’s growing, but the hold-over in the dominions was of a greater proportion. The shortage of stocks had a natural tendency to improve the position so far as the wool growers were concerned. Then there are the ever-in-creasing and persistent reports of a world armament race, which have accentuated the demand. The re-arming of the nations has in the past been followed by an improvement); in wool values, and history is repeating itself now, with gratification to the wool growers. The earlier of increased production in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa were proved to have been rather exaggerated, and the result was that the buyers were not able to purchase the quantities they anticipated at their own limits. But the position so far as > wool values are concerned has been further improved by the disastrous drought of the past few months in Queensland, where, it is reported, between 5.000.000 and 6,000,000 sheep have died. This calamity will reduce the total Australian wool offering by approximately 100,000 bales —a sufficient quantity to affect the world’s markets. The fears that the invention by Germany of’Woolstra would lead to the supercession bf the i-aw material are not being substantiated, and the presence in Wellington of two representatives of the German Government on a wool-buying mission gives an interesting note to the market. There is nothing secret about their mission. They arrived in Auckland, where they exhibited an anxiety to secure supplies, and they have now reached Wellington, where they will probably enter into negotiations with the Government to arrange a sytem of barter of German manufactures for New Zealand wool. In the best informed circles the belief is held that the Germans will not ho successful in their mission, as any such arrangement as that proposed would invoke the diversion of a greater volume of trade from Great Britain than the Government is prepared to permit. The mission, moreover, indicates that the artificial product, Woolstra. does not now threaten to be such a menace as it was first thought it would be to the profitable ' production of raw material. The mission, perhaps, is also another consequence or the armaments race. Woolstra is being produced, but so far the product has not been proved to have the lasting quality of woollen goods, and, further, garments made of it have a tendency to- crease and to remain creased until repressed. With the past low prices of wool, Woolstra •has not had a chance of, successfully competing against wool, but its prospects would be enhanced if wool prices advanced, substantially. German manufacturers qre now making cloth combining raw wool and Woolstra. Germany’s interest in the New Zealand wool market is gratifying, but this must bo remembered—that .that country Las never exerted a big influence on prices here. Its purchases have been comparatively light, and in the recently concluded season it did not buy a bale. Only a small percentage of the total clip has been taken by Germany even in the best seasons. Over a period of 30 years the highest percentage which has gone to Germany was 7.78 per cent, of the total clip, and the percentages acquired by that nation in the past five years have been:—l93l, 4.72 per cent.; 1932, 3.44 per cent.; 1933, 3.35 per cent.; 1934, 5.6 per cent.; 1935, nil.