WOOL PRICES UP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22694, 5 April 1937, Page 11

WOOL PRICES UP

PEAK OF THE SEASON RUSH FOR CROSSBREDS BIG DOMINION CHEQUE ESTIMATE OF £18,000,000 [by telegraph—press association] WELLINGTON, Sunday Prices at the fourth Wellington wool sale on Saturday reached the peak of the 1936-37 season. The auction was a remarkably good one and made a great finish to the best season since 1929. Farmers whose wool had been held over for this sale have every reason to congratulate themselves on the financial result of Saturday's sale, which returned them in most cases from 3d to 4d per lb. more than at the February sale. Following the January auction in Wellington, at which prices touched a high level, the market showed a temporary weakness in mid-February, but quickly recovered, as was shown at subsequent sales elsewhere. On Saturday prices more than regained the February decline and actually improved on those of January. It is estimated that the wool sold on Saturday was worth from £25 to £26 a bale and that the gross proceeds would amount to approximately £750.000. Wellington sales this season will return a total of about £2,750,000, compared, with £1,825,000 for five sales held in 193536, an increase of nearly £1,000,000. All Classes in Demand The offering on Saturday totalled nearly 29,000 bales, consisting mainly of good to average crossbrcds, .with a proportion of coarse back-country and bush-stained wool. The quality, however, was much better than is usual for the final sale, due to the inclusion of many good clips held over from previous auctions. The catalogues also included a few Merinos, Southdowns and halfbreds and some good lambs' wool. There was a full bench of buyers, representative of every section of the trade, many having large orders to fill for overseas interests. Competition was very keen, and at times excited, and the buying was widely spread. It was clear that there was a strong demand for wool of all classes, particularly for crossbrcds, for which many buyers appeared to have very elastic limits. Even on the strength of the market brokers had been conservative with their valuations, and these were frequently exceeded in sales by good margins, with the result that passings at auction were negligible. Several brokers made a 100 per cent clearance of their catalogues at auction.

Compared with February rates at Wellington, Saturday's prices showed an advance of from 3d to 4d for all classes of crossbreds. Finer wools were better by from 2d to 3d. Lambs' wool was fully 2d up. As compared with recent sales elsewhere, lino sorts sold at par to better, and crossbreds were id to 2d higher. Average and Lower Grades Sought Yorkshire and the Continent were the principal buyers, but some large orders for America were also filled. Japan was not an important factor in tlie market. A remarkable feature of the sale was the high prices paid for average to lower "crossbreds, which comprised the bulk of the offering. In verv many cases the lower grades brought even higher prices than the first grades of the same clip. For example, in one clip four bales of fine crossbred made 18|d, while six bales of medium and six bales of coarse crossbred sold for 18£ d. In another case 18 bales of A ewes made 18id and 23 bales of B ewes 182 d. One farmer received 18£ d for 14 bales of A crossbred, 19d for 34 bales of B crossbred, and 19$ d for 10 bales of C crossbred. The Range of Prices

The official range of prices is as follows: — April 3 February 10 Merino — Super d d Nil d d Nil Average 16 to 19% 18 to 21% Fine halfbred, 5G-58's — Nil Extra super Nil Super Nil 21 to 23% Average Inferior 10% to .10 18% to 20% 13% to 16 15 to 18% Medium Halfbred. 50-56's— to 22 Super to 19% Average Inferior 15% to 10 17 to 20% 13% to 14 17 to 18% Extra Fine Crossbred, 48-50's l — Super 16% to 18% 10 to 21% Averago 15 to 17 Ya 18 to 20% Inferior 14 to 14% 1 5 to 18% Fine Crossbred, 46-48's — 10% to 21 Super 16 to 18% Averago 14% to 16% 18 to 19% 15 to 18% Inferior 13 to 14% Medium Crossbred, 44-46's — 10 to 19% Super 15% to 18% A vera ere J 4Ya to 16 18 to 19%' Inferior 13 to 11% 15 to. 18% Coarse Crossbred, 40-44's — 18% to 21% Super 16 to 18% Average 14% to 10% 18 to 10 Inferior 13% to 14% 16% to 18 Lou- Crossbred, 36-40's— to 20 Super 16% to 1.7% Average Inferior 15% to 17% 18% to 10% to.,,1-1% 17 to 18 Hoggets— 48-50's . . i r,Ya to 17% 10% to 20% 1 ; ine, 40-48's 15% to 17% 18% to 20% Medium, 18% to 10% 41-40's . . 11% to 17 Coarse, Nil 40-44's . . 14 to 15% Low, 30-4O's to 17% 18% to 10% Lambs — 10% to 21% Down, 5rt-,")(>'s 18 to 10% Fine, 44-50's 10 to 19% 10% to 20% Medium, 10 to 10 40-14's . . 14% to 15% Seedy and 10% to 15 Inferior . . 10% to 14 Dellies and Pieces — Merino: 11% to 17% Good to super 14% to 15% Low to med. 12% to 13% 12% to 14% Halfbred: 11% to 14% 15 to 18 Good (o super Low to tned. 10% to 11% 11 to 14% Crossbred: 11% to 14% 14% to 18 Good to super Low to med. 9% to 12% 10% to 14% Crutchings— 13 to 16%' 13 to 10% Med. to good Inf. and seedy 0 Ya to 11 0% to 13 Locks — Crossbred .. 8% to 0% 8 to 11%