WOOL CHEQUE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22391, 11 April 1936, Page 12

WOOL CHEQUE

SEASON'S HIGH TOTAL BEST FOR MANY YEARS SUM OF £935,621 REALISED ALMOST TOTAL CLEARANCE The proceeds of the three wool sales held in Auckland this season total £935,621, compared with £344,030 in the previous season, making the largest cheque since 1928-29, when £1,024,682 was realised. The prompt date for payment of the third sale fell on Wednesday and the Auckland Woolbrokers' Association have announced the realisation as £371,386, which exceeds the total of any but the 1933-34 season in the past five years. Last year £87,684 was realised at the third sale and at the final fixture in the good 1933-34 season the total cheque was £151,314. At the March fixture the total weight of wool sold was 11,096,1811b., giving an average of 3.032 d per lb. The value a bale, £ll 14s 2d, compares with approximately £l2 2s at the other two sales this season, the difference being accounted for by the lower quality of the offering as a whole, very large lots of coarser wools also tending to bring down tile average. In the 1933-34 season the average price a bale was about £ls.

The following table compares the returns of the three sales held in .Auckland this season:— > Nov., Jnn., Mar.,

1335 1936 193G Bales offered 20,961 28.299 32,540 Bales pold 19,847 26,775 31,719 Total value £240!154 £324,081 £371.386 Average price— Bale .. £l2 2 0 £l2 2 1 £lll4 2 Pound 8.27 d 8.274 d 8.032 d

Seasons Compared The clearance at the final sale was exceptionally high, amounting to almost 97.5 per cent. Of the 32,546 bales offered some 31,719 were sold either at auction or after the sale, and it is probable that much of the little that remains will be disposed of within a few months. Altogether this season 81,806 bales were offered and 78,341 sold,, but of those offered a fair number were passed in at one sale and were catalogued at the next; Brokers stated on Thursday that it is many years since there has been so little wool left in the stores. Last year 42.896 baler? were sold, a clearance of only 79 per cent, while in the previous season a •disposal of 62,087 bales represented 96 per cent of the total offering. The totals realised at the Auckland sales for the past eight seasons are as follows: Season Total Amount 1928-29 £1,024,682 1929-30 498,717 1930-31 323.806 1931-32 310,803 1932-33 341.857 1933-34 934,363 1934-35 • 344.030 1935-36 .. .. .. 935.621 Confidence in Outlook

"It has been the most satisfactory season for some years," said a broker. "With the enormous quantity of wool that had to be cleared, the stability of the market was vdry gratifying to all concerned. Admittedly, values are still well below what we would like, but a season of level prices is to be preferred to one with bewildering fluctuations, causing growers to distrust the market. "Auckland farmers have been fortunate in that their particular types of wool have been selling comparatively well. Next year, with the bare boards to take a new clip, and without a huge carryover of old wool, we all look forward to a keen demand that should bring highly encouraging results."

\ WELLINGTON RETURNS £1,800,000 FOR SEASON The wool cheque for the fourth Wellington sale of this season, held on March 16, totalled £382,026, compared with £166,943 for March, 1935, an increase of £215,083. For the first four sales held in Wellington to March 31 this season, the total gross proceeds amount to £1,500,619, well over double the total for the corresponding sales of last season, which produced £719,871. The proceeds of the fifth and final sale held this week are not yet available, but should exceed £300,000, bringing the total Wellington realisations for the season up to more than £1,800,000.