THE RURAL WORLD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21021, 9 May 1930, Page 4

THE RURAL WORLD.

FARM AND STATION NEWS.

By Rxjsticus

The Dairy Market. ■ The quotation for New Zealand salted butter in London has undergone considerable fluctuations this season. ■At ,thc opening of the season in August the aver-' age price was 170 s 6d per cwt. for New Zealand, salted butter, after which prices 1 advanced reaching the peak in the fortnight ended October 11, with the average price at 181 s 6d. After that prices moved downward, dropping rather rapidly after February and reaching the low level of 122 s in the week ended April 11, so that between the lowest and highest average price there is a margin of 59s 6d per cwt. _ ‘ _ A comparison of the average' price for each of'seven weeks with the prices for the corresponding periods.of;the two previous seasons".is-as under:— . 1930. 1929. 1928. Per Per Per cwt. ... cwt. cwt. s. d; s. d. s. March 14 .. .. 140 6 166 0 174 March 21 .... 134 6 164 '.6 172 March 28 .... 128 0 163 0 170 April 4 126 0 101 0 170 April 11 122 0 165 0 168 April 18 124 6 163 0 168 April 25 ...... 131 0 163, 0 165 Last season the price was over 180 s for several weeks, reaching 186 s in the week ended January 11 last year, and the lowest price appears to have been 161 s. In the season of 1927-28 the highest aver*, age price was 182 s, which ruled in tile week ended September 21, 1927, and the lowest for that season was 152 s 6d. “ From Bad to* Worse,” Writing from London on March 6, the Anglo-Continental Produce Company, Ltd., said; “The market continues to go from bad to worse. The make all over the world seems to be about 20 per cent, above that of last year; in fact, there seems'to be an over-production of all commodities and many of them are much below pre-war _prices. We do not think that butter will go so low as that, but there is no doubt the public have not got the money to spend owing to the heavy taxation and big losses on the stock markets and a general depression throughout the world,. We cannot but think that. we are still a good way from the bottom of, the market, and in a month’s time we will have European butters pouring in, aS' Germany will not be able to 'take anything. like her usual quantity. Danish butter has been a market to, itself for the last two months, but the European countries are now beginning to take legs, and.w.e expect a very heavy fall in'Danish .during the next two or three * weeks, and would not be surprised to see it selling at the same price as New Zealand.” Australian Wool Prospects. 1 It was stated in a cablegram this week that the Sydney and Melbourne wool markets showed a recent advance of 10 per cent.' The effect of this improvement on the money market was noted, and its heartening influences on trade generally has to be taken into account. A marked increase in' wool values was a feature of the wool sales in Sydney and Melbourne on April 28, the opening of the April-May sales. At the Sydney auctions the market was fully 10 per cent, above the closing rates of preceding series, and in Melbourne spinners’ wools were from 5 to 10 per cent, higher than the rates ruling before Easter, while other wools advanced 5 to'7J per cent. Highly satisfactory clearances were effected in both capitals, nearly 98 per cent, of the Sydney offerings and 96 per cent, of the Melbourne offerings being ' cleared. There was. strong competition from Continental buyers, France bidding keenly at both centres. More than 10,000 bales were 1 sold-at Sydney, and nearly 8000. bales at Melbourne. - , The Sydney sales should test the market with a total offering to May 28 of 171,000 bales. 1 When the sales closed 'on April 2 there were 266,000 bales on hand. Australian Exports. Reduced; offerings in Australia are seen in the following table of exports, showing the quantities- of wool exported fromAustralia from July to the end of March this' season, and their position compared with the same period of the preceding season: — Bales. Bales. Decrease. United Kingdom .. 581,975 69,494 France ..., ;. .. 421,653 51,628 Germany 235,680 ' 41,959 Belgium ........ 192,068 68,903 Japan ... 174,391 81,091 Italy , 86,264 27,570 United States .. .. 43,384 15,762. Russia .. .. 17.863 35,793 The total exports for the nine months were 1,767,663 bales, compared with 2,157,901 bales for the similar months of 1928-29. They show a decrease of 18 per cent.,'chiefly due to the slower rate of selling this season; Russian shipments show a. decline of 66 per cent;, Japanese a decline, of 31 per cent.. United States 27 per cent., Belgian 26 per cent.,, Italy 24 per cent., and Germany 15 per cent. Exports to the United' Kingdom include wool sent to London for sale. So far this selling year France has been the most sustained ■ purchaser of the staple. Australian Wool Disposal. Should the Australian -vyool market continue to improve it may be possible to clean-up by the end of June./ This is, in.deed, most desirable, as it: will enable tfle new season to start without any initial delay in the event of buyers insisting on the usual two months’ recess between seasons. Of the wool offered in Sydney this season so far 90 per cent, has been sold at Eviction. Commonwealth wool shipments for/ nine months this season were 1,767,663 bates, as compared with 2,157,901 bales during the same period of last,, season—a falling off of 390,238 bales, which is, of course, largely accounted for by the backward state of , the selling season. Wellington Wool Returns. ' The Wellington Wool Brokers’ Association is the authority for the statement, hereunder of the quantities of wool offered and sold, with the average price realised per bale and per pound, for the 1929-30 series of sales:— Bales Bales • Price Price 1929-30 Offered -Sold per bale per lb j £ s. d. d. | Nov. 14 7,973 7,332 16 3,7 J 11.223 Dec. 6 .22,394 17,744 15 19 3 10.749 Jan. 11 25,988 23,073 13 15 72 9.284 March 3 17,673 12,444 11 8 103 7,839 March 21 11,805 8,004 10 1 1J 6.771 April 10# 5,796 5,496 11 7 6 7,780 Total bales 91,629 74,093 The net weight of wool sold was 26,214,3161 b; gross, proceeds, £1,005,324 4s ’d; average price for- the season, £l3 Us 4d per bale, or 9.204 pence per pound. The offerings for the season were 29,767 bales less than the previous season, and the sales were less by 39,533 bales. The. proceeds ’realised were lower by the sum if £1,522,392 17s lid. From this, however, ihdre should be deducted the value of the lesser quantity sold —viz., '39,533 bales at the season’s average of £l3 11s 4d per ba’le. This would make the net difference on realisations £980,061 18s 3d. For the 1928-29 season the total offering for five sales—November, December, January, February, and March—amounted to 121,396 bales, of which 113,626, bales were sold. The net weight of wool offered then was 40,555,8011 b, and the gross proceeds wer e £2,627,717 2s 2d, an average of £22 4s lid per bale, or 14.958 d per pound. THE FUTURE OF WOOL. BRADFORD AND NEW ZEALAND. IMPORTANCE OF FOREIGN BUYERS. For all our leaping, production figures, our growing flocks and study of better farming methods, we are failing to gain a greater, share of the British wool market, ‘For the five-year period 1909-13 Great Britain took and retained 72 per

Items of interest to those engaged in agricultural and pastoral pursuits, •with a view to their publication in these columns, will ; be welcomed. They should be addressed to “Rusticus,” Otago Daily Times, Dunedin.

cent, of New Zealand’s wool exports; for the five-year period 1923-27 she took and .retained a percentage which is variously estimated-at from 50 to 56. The drop is significant- and means, that Bradford is no more important than the rest, of the world in the New Zealand wool trade. Some thought-provoking facts emerge from a survey of factors affecting the markets for New Zealand wool which has recently been completed by Mr D O, Williams, lecturer in economics at Massey Agricultural College. The first is the definite evidence of the .decline of Bradford save as a purchasing agent for other countries. The second is that with no precise knowledge of the .destination of our, raw wool a study of our markets is necessary to assist that embarrassed industry,. Mr Williams’s investigation has served to show in-what an unsatisfactory state are the statistics of our exports. There is, for instance, a difference of • 72,000,0001 b between the wool which is' shown, in -our statistics as having, been shipped to Great Britan and the amount which arrived there, from 1923 to 1927. A great deal, of wool is shipped- on an open consign ment bill of lading—that is, it is shipped to London or -alternatively to some 14 other ports,, several being Continental. Wool leaving the .Dominion with a Continental destination may be transhipped at an English port and possibly treated as both an import and re-export. 1 Wool; may also be diverted from England to. the Continent. Placing- the most favourable however, Mr Williams, is unable to find that Bradford purchases for use- more than 56 per cent, of our wool, clip. In addition, he finds that whereas in 1909-13 the United Kingdom - retained ‘ 140,000,0001 b annually, in 1923-27-the Mother Country retained only-120,000,0001b annually. That means that not only has the percentage of our total sales to England diminished from 75 to 56 per cent." of the wool clip, but the actual export , has diminished. ■ • ’■ ■ ' Of. the 44 per cent, of our total cjip which is re-exported from Great Britain, Mr Williams estimates that four-fifths goes fo the Continent. PASSING OF BRADFORD’S' ■ DOMINANCE; A survey of the . position of the woollen industry in the United 1 Kingdom seems to indicate that . Bradford’s-dominance in the New Zealand field has passed for good. The difficulties-of the English inustry, Mr Williams concludes, were accentuated, but not initiated, by the war. The decline in exports to Western Europe, which is becoming not merely more .selfsufficing, biit an active competitor in foreign markets, coincides with the rise of New Zealand’s export figures to, the .same countries; the export trade in worsteds has fallen by half and shows an almost continuous decline; and the falling figures in exports of tops and yarns to Europe alone are more than enough to account for the decrease in the total of this class of export. The loss of England’s advantage in mechanical construction 'which she enjoyed in the nineteenth century; . inability to adjust the economic position in wages and hours as easily &4 formerly; the difficulty presented by standardisation of mass production owing to the wide range of articles manufactured (“ even the limited standardisation implied by the reduction of the number of sizes in which blankets are made —a development which has taken place in the United States —is considered, impossible here owing to the different tastes of export markets,” says the survey of textiles made by the Committee of Industry and Trade; the policy of drift, and of: living from hand to mouth, have clouded the future of the industry with uncertainty. “For one reason or another,” says Mr Williams, “ the English industry has so far been unable or unwilling to adjust itself to those changing conditions' which constitute the present-day industrial revolution. One by one the temporary causes which have served, Sometimes as an excuse, sometimes as a valid explanation, have disappeared, and now,- after 10 years; there are few signs that -the task of readjustment has been undertaken seriously and . , . there is‘little in the way of achievement, to wurraflt optimism.” The Liberal Industrial Report put it bluntly when it stated that “in certain sections of the coal, textile, and steel industries those upon whom the responsibility ties seem to have proved themselves unequal to dealing with the new problems that confront them.” In view of the, cry for cheaper wool during the past woolselling season and' the persistent statement that the trade needs cheaper raw materials, a statement in Daigety’fi Annual Review is interesting. “It is diffi-' cult to see how Bradford can stand up to outside competition any - better with cheaper wool unless she can obtain it on more favourable terms than rival woolusing countries, and this is not; practicable?’ FOREIGN WOOL TRADE DEVELOPMENT. Development of the woollen industry in’ other countries has been rapid since the war.' In France the industry was almost extinguished by the war, losing .80 per cent, of, its plant ■ and equipment.' Reequipment and general reorganisation have made France a much more dangerous competitor because it has left ner with modern plant and methods. Belgium’s industry is highly Competent .and capable of great expansion; Germany, thanks to her commercial relations with; Russia, has recovered almost to pre-war level, while Italy has expanded her tex- • tile industry through water-power developments, until it is now one of the chief industries in the world. Of great importance to New Zealand is the rise of the Japanese industry, which now absorbs six times as much wool as it did in the pre-war days, , Here, increasing adoption of European clothing_ is causing demand to outstrip production, and it is considered that before 'long the industry will extend to cover all requirements. The United States- produces great quantities of woollen goods but almost exclusively for the internal market, which is highly protected, Nevertheless, her wool consumption has declined to a level below that of 1913-17, ’ locally-produced wool has increased and the volume of imports declined. Latterly, however, signs of expansion have presented themselves, and in 1927 the output reached a figure which has been cqua’llcd on three previous occasions only. Despite the increased use of artificialsilk, there is no evidence- that it : has robbed wool of many markets. There has been a redistribution of world trade, but no decline in demand. On the contrary, it is believed that demand has increased, but that the effect of artificial silk has been to retard the rate of this increase. The competition of Rayon, however, is sure to be more keenly felt. Interesting textile deyelopments are the French nouveau textile, which can be produced at about 9d a pound, and the German “ wool silk,” and artificial wool produced from artificial silk fibres which is similar to natural wool in properties and appearance. The future of these textiles is unknown, but possibly they will be allies rather, than competitiors, and be mixed with natural wool to -produce goods at lower prices than are n<Av possible. The nouveau textile is already in use in-York-shire mills.