ENGLISH WOOL LETTER

New Zealand Times, Volume XL, Issue 9171, 11 October 1915, Page 2

ENGLISH WOOL LETTER

PROSPECTS OF MORE EXPORT TRADE From Our Special Correspondent. BRADFORD, August 19. The week lias been a very quiet one, mo>t of .the mills in the district having l>een closed down on the occasion ofHlowliug Tide. The fact that sorters have been idle all the-.week is not ranch ’ ta‘-grumble at, but for a--week to, pass.;,w,ithout any production, from the combing Mnills is .not relished by tepmakers -.and spinners. : ..However, .the '.com.binjp opera tiveß yieed,a holiday, and it is to he hoped’ that after ’having- had if and with securing better wages they' will work better. Deliveries of* tops and yarns have been small, ail’d have not been wanted. In suite of the holiday tone prices are tending downwards, and some users have been surprised by the low figures which a few topmakers will ■ take.’ We hoar that there are failweights of 64’s tops offering for spot delivery at Us’ 4d, ’ Sales having been put through at that price and ,a penny less, though . the best placed makers arc still asking As 6d. , A rather <poor 64’s top has changed hands at as low as 3s ‘2d, but the market price of an average article is all round 3s 4d to-day. Nobody is really anxious to buy, and if sellers mean to do business they must he prepared to make concessions. -Values in merino show a full 2d a lb decline compared with about three weeks ago. Crossbreds, are also easier, 10’s being offered atvSSJd.. For 46’s 254 d is being asked, and fine crossbreds aro also a shade easier. In the crossbred section of the trade,.as in merino also, more export trade would be an advantage. Values are gradually falling away,’and it must he said that the decline during the lust three weeks has been almost as rapid ap was the rise when - values wore previously at about the same level. The Japanese are wanthux English merino tops, and efforts are'also being made by the Textile Alliance of. America to secure the '-export of ’ crossbreds, .These, backed up bv the -Bradford trade’s .movement to the same, end, have given birth to the -feeling that it will not bo long before moderate weights of cross])! ed wool and tops arc allowed to go out of this country to Allies, find America. Already the War Trade Department is showing more willingness to grant licenses, and for merino -yarns' to France ’ several have lately - been received. ■ The, International Supply Commission - informs the Bradford trade, through the Chamber of Conimercc herb,, that licenses for the export of merino wool and waste to Italy can be secured if the Italian consignee has the guarantee of his Ministry of Commerce to the effect that the goods will bo used solely ! in Italian army cloths. To Norway and Denmark licenses for yarns will also he favouiably considered by the War Trade Department, as also applications for the export of crossbred yarns to safe destinations., . ■ ' GERMANY, COTTON AND. WOOL. According to an authoritative list received! by the writer .the'■..maximum prices for scoured wool and tops m Germany show increases of from 4}d to Od per lb. above those ruling in February last.' Seventies’ tops aro now Quoted at-about 4s 9£d, 64’s 3Hd less, •56*s 3s Ud, 50 ? s 3s 7d, 46’s-3s sd, s 3s '2d. ' In every’case the value given is considerably more than a. shilling above tlio Bradford parity. These values, make one wonder whether the margin is sufficient to ‘tempt expert 3 front neutrals to Germany. If the goods are -to be bought, in England and sent 1 through neutral countries* wd doubt . very much if it can,, be ~ _ done, for exchange rates reduce profits to-day considerably. For example, the rate of exchange between France and England at - the present time is alp round 28fr, which adds quite 12 per cent, to the cost of. the goods landed in Franee. For cotton to bo declared contraband will most certainly have its effect in Germany. -Pit is-well known that prisoners’ blankets are being made of cotton, and in many of the German army fabrics also the admixture of cotton has been allowed. Seeing tliat the M ar Wool Company has commandeered all the wool there is in Germany, and is doling it out to .manufacturers for use in military clotlis as it is needed, the civilian clothing made, must contain a fair amount of cotton, If German; stocks are limited by this-declaration of contraband, it may moan a still greater call for her wool, or more shivering among tile German people. A CHANCE FOR THE ENERGETIC AMERICAN: ■’ One cannot heir) thinking, when reviewing the. state of ' things in the English and Continental textile trades, that at the present time circumstances offer a splendid opening to the American industry. The subject has frequently been touched on before, but as the war continues it comes; before one again and again. , As is well known, the French wool trade is practically crippled. Everything that it can produce.' it is producing, hut entirely, for its own Government, and exports from that country are practically nothing compared- with those of pre-war times. Germany’s exports are all cut off, and as regards English mills, they are so busy that while desirous of securing, any foreign trade that'is to’be picked up, they really have not the time incapacity to go after tho business. It is almost -unnecessary' to say that tlio fact that the United States,can sell piece goods in England and in Franco proves that the European industries are too busy to run after new export trade. ' ' . In South America alone there is a rich market, whdre many of the big Bradford and Manchester distributing houses have in years past reaped good harvests. They have, had'their travellers out there, who have brought them big business, -but even they acknowledge that the market has not by any means been yet tried but, and to-day they cannot get the fabrics to offer. To United States firms there are no doubt many obstacles, the questions of quoting, packing shipping, and finance have all to he gone into. - and in each one efforts must be made to please tho customer : but there is no reason to say that it cannot be done. In one line of fabrics alone apparently the American/trade'are making a; bid for business previously held by British’ houses. Mb refer to mohair goods. The head of one of the largest mohair fabric manufacturers in Bradford stated last week that they had not a single loom running on mohair goods, being fully occupied both in their spinning and weaving departments on Government work. This state of things has lasted for months, and the end is vet a good way off. Mohair as an article, is cheap, and the reason, why to-day’s prices are 2d per Ih higher

than - those of ten weeks ago is because America has bought so freely. Another factor which must not be forgotten when considering the American selling methods is their advertising. English manufacturers are on the whole too reticent to adopt such measures for selling their fabrics, but it is only necessary to mention a few of tho large American concerns who have made fortunes through advertising, to prove that it is a method which can bo worked with success. It is not possible to advertise wool and tops, nor perhaps yarns, hut fabrics, which show special and differing skill and value in their construction, certainly should have some selling points which can he made public. SPECIALISED, SECTIONALISED, BUT- STILL HOMOGENEOUS. The Bradford wool trade is often instanced as being a very specialised affair. Tlio wool is bought by one section, combed by another, spun by another, woven by another, dyed and finished by another, sold by another, and cut up by another; but if one looks through a Bradford directory or walks down the streets containing the offices of large numbers of firms in the trade, one will be surprised to see how many there are who deal in not one, but two or more things. One can see name-plates bearing the linn’s name and “wool and tops,” “woed, tops and noils,” “wool and noils,” “tops and yarns,” or describing the firms as spinners . and manufacturers, or whatever other combination they may happen to be. Even those who describe themselves as topmakers can often be found doing as much or more in wool than in tops, and the reverse is the.ease with many who merely have “wool merchants” printed on their billheads.

This scheme of things, while it still maintains the efficiency that is associated with specialisation, makes the industry one that is well bound together, and also is a frequent prevention of loss. Many firms who may have bought wool to resell, finding they cannot profitably do so, have it combed, and then they may have a possible margin of profit. We do not say they can do so at the present time, combing being difficult ,to secure, hut it has often been done in the past. Similarly spinners may resell some tops they have bought,, when yarn prices are unremunerative, or when they have sold enough, as at present. We know one firm that buys tire best merino wool, combs it and spins it, and very rarely has to sell it tops to make a profit. That, however, is because they make as good yarns as can be bought anywhere, and they always have a market for their production. We remember when, in peace time, they were asking half a year in which to complete orders, even though at that time they were putting in all the extra hours they could.

But that is hy the way. To return* to what we were saying about the varied interests of some firms, wo may mention that one or two, describing themselves as wool merchants and toumakers, are in everything from wool to cloth. When no'profit is possible on one article, they, convert it into the next, and though to a large extent the various departments of these firms are run separately, . some, wool certainly goes through every one. It, is unnecessary to state that; the number of such firms is very small, as a big amount of . capital Ts required, but the few. there are are looked on as being very safe concerns, which is only natural, seeing that-the fihn whose business rests on the widest basis ought to hare a firmer standing, considered from every point, .than one that is confined to one line of goods.