WOOL BUYING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22596, 8 December 1936, Page 5

WOOL BUYING

PROGRESS OF JAPAN A ROMANCE IN TRADE INFLUENCE OF .FASHION The growth of Japanese wool buying in Australia—and the same might bo said to a lesser degree in reference to New Zealand—forms quite a romance iu trade, according to Dalgety's Annual Wool Review. From its first purchase of 200 bales from Sydney in 1891, and 37,266 bales in 1907, Japan rose to the second largest buyer in the two countries last year, taking 2t per cent of the offerings in 861,083 bales. The wool history of Japan may be divided into the two periods before and after the war. Progress was. slow and painful in the former period, when there were many critics who freely predicted disaster. Those- who spoke in this strain, however, made no allowance for the persistence and perseverance of the Japanese. Purchase of Modern Machinery No stone was left unturned to acquire all knowledge about wool. The Japanese had the advantage of being able to purchase wool handling machinery, brought to a high pitch of perfection in older wool using countries. They set themselves to conquer all difficulties arising out of inexperience, and when the trade began to expand there was an army of trained cadets available. They had gathered information at every etage and were competent to take executive positions. A prediction that the success of the Japanese textile industry would be of no benefit to the Australian industry was based on the assumption that the net result would be to divert trade from other countries. One very important aspect was overlooked. The changing trend of fashion in dress methods in the East automatically created millions of new customers for woollen goods, and was the main factor in making the present-day demand possible. Second Largest Buyer

The initial purchase of 200 bales at 18d per lb. resulted in a substantial loss. The wool was all too good and too expensive to be used profitably b,v the Japanese. Undaunted, the pioneers kept on buying different classes of wool and adequate reward for the enterprise was obtained in the end. From a position of comparative unimportance in the early days of this century, Japan was established as the seventh largest buyer after the war, and improved her position to second for the past six seasons. The expansion in Eastern demand meant much to Australia throughout the depression years. It heljjed materially to clear current production and, on the other hand, easy access to cheap raw material has in turn expedited Japanese textile expansion.

THE SYDNEY SALES SEASON'S MERINO RECORD AVERAGE AND INFERIOR LOWER (Received December 7, 9.20 p.m.V SYDNEY, Dec. 7 The Sydney wool sales were resumed to-day with good general competition from' Yorkshire and the Continent, while America was a strong bidder for suitable wools. The market was very firm at the closing rates of last series for all descriptions, but average and inferior sorts met an irregular demand and prices for them were fully 5 per cent lower. Greasy Merino made a. season's record price of 31 id per lb. The offering comprised 13,513 bales, of which 10,654 were sold, and 1222 were disposed of privately.