THE WOOL MARKET.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20906, 21 December 1929, Page 12

THE WOOL MARKET.

The first Dunedin wool sale of the season yesterday confirmed with bitter emphasis the reports of depression and stringency in the market which cannot have failed to impress pastoralists all over the country with the conviction that greatly decreased returns were to be expected this year from the sale of a ost important export commodity. The artificial level of values which raided false hopes in ■ Australia and New Zealand in November was as short-lived as the uneconomic demand that created It, and, contrary to many hopes and to more anticipations, yesterday’s sale followed the general downward trend of the series in both countries since the season commenced. It was not surprising to find an uneven inquiry, inclining to dullness, for any but the best fleece wools, but even those most closely in touch with the latest market movements were unprepared for the suddenness of the fall in the values that left prices fully twopence below those ruling at the Christchurch sale in November. . It was hoped that the encouraging tone of that sale would form a basis for the disposal of the finer wools that make up the bulk of the southern offerings. The top price of 16d paid yesterday compares significantly, however, with the highest bid of 2oid at the corresponding sale last year. The general decline on the previous season’s rates represents a reduction of from 25 per cent, to 33 1-3 per cent, for fleece wool, and as much as 50 per cent for pieces and other such, which make up about

25 per cent, of the total offering. The average of £2l Is Sd per bale in 1927-28 has this year fallen to below £l6, and the country may now expect a gross revenue from wool less by about four and a-half millions sterling than that which was derived from this source last year. A disquieting feature of the present pastoral year is the fact that there is nothing in the condition or quantity of the clip to compensate growers for the lower values. The unseasonable climatic conditions in the spring and summer robbed the wool of those characteristics of style and attractiveness which might have been construed intd reimbursement for the decreased returns. It is to the Continental buyers that pastoralists owe whatever strength the market possesses, since Bradford and American operators exhibit no more inclination to stimulate the demand than do the local mills, the majority of which displayed a negligible interest in the sale. The prospect confronting the woolgrower at the present moment is not such as to make reasonable any expectation of improvement in the tone of the market in the near future. The London series of sales has little more to offer vendors than is forthcoming here, and the uncertainty of the position in all the textile manufacturing countries, aggravated by recent terrific losses and the intense competition from substitutes, suggests that sellers yesterday who adhered to their reserves rather than! sell were acting less wisely than a serious consideration of existing world conditions would warrant.