FUTURE OF WOOL

Hawera Star, 13 January 1930, Page 8

FUTURE OF WOOL

NEW POSITION TO BE FACED. In their latest wool circular, Winehooinbe, Carson and Company, ot Sydney, alter referring to the recent improvement in values at Australian sales, review the' 'position of the wool trade in the following terms: "High returns would’ no douht he. welcome to Australia, and' other woolgrowing countries, but the fact cannot- be ignored that excessive prices for wool would give further stimulus to the use of artificial fibres. The high prices ruling for wool from .19*23 onwards undbubtedyl gave artificial silk its great opportunity with feminine wear, and the manufacturers of it embraced their chance to capture trade. '•.lndications point to the production of artificial fibres having overtaken demand. aiul moderate wool prices will lend to check the consumption of them. Thev arc now manufactured; in almostevery country ‘under the sun.* Unlike wool .they can be produced anywhere. It is estimated that production in Hint) w ill reach 397,000,0001 b, which isequal to at least twice that weight of greasy wool, and consequently almost equals the quantity of wool grown in Australia, annually. "We do not -wish to cause undue alarm regarding the use of f-lie artificial product. It- is not only competing with wool, but it- is also a. serious rival fur cotton. Plenty of scope for the use of wool still exists. But we raiwt get down to ‘tin tacks’ and' realise that, th? sheep’s .staple has a- competitor. And that competitor has the advantage of being a; factory product, the 'price of which does not- vary much, while wool has of late years, fluctuated trev' mendouslv. “The clean cost- of average merino fleece wools is now 60 per cen|b._ less than in November. 1924, and 36 per cent, less than in 1927. 'More risk has, therefore, attached to the purchase of wool than of artificial fibre. If the use of wool is to be encouraged its cost must be kept moderate. We should realise the position and jettison the idfeia- that- wool] is an indispensable article which will be used extensively irrespective of what its price may bo.

“Room for some rm|orovemteiit in prices .still exists without (ransing any hindrance to trade. We feel reasonably sure that sales will continue to he readilv effected, and hope to see vtailu.es slight-v appreciating as the season proceeds. lint we cousidbr that a return to extreme' figures would in the long run prove the worst- enemy of the sheopowner.” , .