Southland Has Smaller Wool Cheque

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 60, 12 March 1938, Page 5

Southland Has Smaller Wool Cheque

COARSE GRADES IN DEMAND P«r Press Association. INVERCARGILL, Last Night. The reduction in wool prices this season is reflected in realisations for the two Invercargill sales which show a drop of more than one-third on last year’s peak prices, with the quantity sold this year slightly greater than in the previous season. An estimate of the value of the wool sold to-day is £273,000, bringing the total income of the province for wool sold at auction in the city to £612,600 compared with £958,705 received from two sales last year. The total quantity of wool offered at the two sales this season sligntly exceeded 45,000 bales but in spite of the increase of 1000 bales in quantity sold this season, the growers’ revenue shows a reduction of £346,105. The average price received per bale this season is approximately £l3 7s 6d compared with £2l Cs 2d last year. To-day’s prices were distinctly higher than those at the first sale of the season a month ago, the average price per pound being about a halfpenny better. An improvement was particularly noticeable in coarser grades of woo! which were very firm in comparison with finer wools. The strong demand for coarse wool is generally attributed in the trade to fear of a war in Europe, it being a normal tendency in war time for coarse wools to be in keen demand with a lesser demand for fine wool. "The present state of the market suggests that fine wool is more attractive for speculation as being more likely to harden in value than coarse wool.