WELLINGTON WOOL SALE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 67, 16 February 1939, Page 6

WELLINGTON WOOL SALE

GOOD CLEARANCE EFFECTED SPIRITED DEMAND; RATES MAINTAINED Keen bidding within generally rigid limits and an excellent clearance at prices about on a par with those of the January auction were the main features of the third Wellington wooJ sale of the 1998-39 series, yesterday. Spirited competition. which was well maintained right through the sale, was evidence of a strong demand for wool from all sections of the trade. Yorkshire and the Continent were again the mainstays of the market, their representatives taking a large proportion of the offering. Some orders for Japan were also filled. Yew Zealand mills were buyers of lambs’ wool and crossbreds suitable to their requirements. The sale was fast and noisy, the bulk of the offering of 24,300 bales being cleared when the luncheon adjournment was taken, leaving only one catalogue to be sold in the afternoon. Growers’ valuations showed that they were generally prepared to meet the market. Passings were few and far between, and a clearance of 96 per cent, of the offering was made.

GOOD LAMBS’ WOOL. Brokers’ catalogues totalling 24,317 bales were offered to a full and representative bench of buyers. Very few outstanding clips were on offer, the wool being mainly average topmaking sorts from the Wairarapa and Manawatu districts with a small showing of Merinos and halfbreds from MarJborough and Nelson. There was a better selection of lambs’ wool than at the January sale, but the quality of the other wools offered was not so good as at that auction. Not a few clips showed the effects of the hard season. The sale went at a fast, pace from tile start, the first catalogue of some 350 lots totalling 3400 bales being cleared in barely 40 minutes. Five brokers had finished selling by 1 o’clock. RIGID LIMITS. The sale was very noisy, bidding being fast and strong and frequently excited with 12 or more buyers competing frenziedly for many lot's. It was noticeable that for the general run of the wool offering buyers’ limits were very rigid and that bidding for many lots ended with several buyers at the same figure. Occasionally, however, one or two buyers ran some particularly wanted lot up to an outstanding price. The major part of the offering was taken by Bradford and Continental buyers. It is reported that some orders were filled for Japan and the United States, but as such buying is done through certain firms it is difficult to say in their case where the wool is going. New' Zealand firms bought lambs’ wool and other lines suited to their needs.

Taking the quality of the offering into account, it can be said that prices were generally on a level with those of the January sale at Wellington. Following that sale, there was a decline of about Jd a lb. at the Wanganui, Auckland apd Christchurch auctions, but a recovery was seen at Invercargill and Dunedin. Yesterday’s prices were on a par with those of Dunedin for comparable sorts. Some grades were slightly above the Wellington January rates and others were Id to a lb. lower, but in general there was little change. Lambs’ wool and bellies and pieces were fully firm; good crutchings were a little easier, 1 but inferior sorts held their ground.

EXCELLENT CLEARANCE. Good clearances have been made at most sales this season, and up to the end of January the quantity of wool sold was about 33,700 bales in excess of that for the corresponding seven months of last season. Growers yesterday showed their readiness to meet the market and an excellent clearance was made. Of the total of 24,317 bales offered, 23,377 bales, or 96 per cent., were sold, the passing being only 940 bales. Outstanding prices were 13sd for 10 bales of A crossbred, brand DC-W, 131 d for 13 bales of crossbred, brand H in diamond HC over P, 13d for a line of 18 bales of lambs’ wool grown by G. Moore and Son, Wairarapa. Other good prices included 12Jd for 10 bales of fine lambs’ wool grown by Mr E. Knight, Dannevirke, 12Jd for five bales of AA ewe under the Nocktnor brand of Mr H. -W. Kilsbv, Pa-1-merston North, 12Jd for eight bales of C ewe, grown by Mr It. W. Kebble, Eketahuna, 12$d for four bales of C ewe, brand Rover Link, and 12Jd for six bales of A.M. ewe, brand Otawhao Seventeen bales of fine carding wool made 12!d, 11 hales of coarse preparing 12Id, and 50 bales medium crossbred 12Jd, these being sold under the Kaiwarra brand.