WOOL-SELLING SEASON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22204, 6 March 1934, Page 6

WOOL-SELLING SEASON

THIRD DUNEDIN SALE REDUCED RATES ANTICIPATED TOTAL OF 25,249 BALES Growers with wool to sell to-morrow will be wise not to expect the highest rates that have ruled in the earlier auctions this season. ' After a period of rapid, and frequently spectacular, selling, the- w'ool market in New Zealand has cased noticeably, and values generally have receded to Deeeipber levels. In this the market has merely followed the trend of Australian conditions, and it is doubtful whether any appreciable improvement can- be expected until the opening of the coming series Of sales in London. The Bradford tops market is quiet pending the resumption of selling in Coleman street, and buyers in the Dominion, particularly Bradford operators, who largely determine the crossbred market, are obviously buying under' strict limits. Values at to-morrow’s sale, therefore, cannot tail to be lower than those ruling at the February auction in Dunedin. The demand for, fine wools, super quality excepted, i# considerably less brisk than was the case two months ago, and wool of this description is expected to be cheaper 4iy at least lid per pound, and probably more. Notwithstanding such a decline, however, growers can scarcely regard themselves as ill-used, as prices in New Zealand since the New Year have outstripped London parity, rendering, 4 drop inevitable, sooner or later.- Unfortunately, this was also the case with respect to crossbreds, for all classes of which the demand will be much quieter to-morrow. Even the best crossbreds were slow of sale in,February, and since crossbreds form the bulk of this month’s offering the depressed v’alues ruling; fOr them cannot fail to have a weakening effect On the sale. The market for crossbreds throughout the season has lacked buoy* ancy, and consequently, with a generally weaker tone for all wools crossbreds, and particularly the coarser varieties, must be cheaper than wag' the case in February. Distasteful as such intelligence must be to the grower, it should hot come as a surprise to vendors of these descriptions of wool, as the writing was undoubtedly on the wall with regard to theni last month. Some of the best crossbred wool produced in the Dominion failed to arrest the downward trend at the last sale, and similar sorts to-morrow cannot expect to command more than current rates.

The offering of 25,249 bale? which has been catalogued for to-morrow’s differs considerably in character/and quality from the wool which made up last month’s clip. Crossbred wool predominates on this occasion, and although some of the clips to be offered are of outstanding quality there is a good deal of heavily conditioned back-country wool and smaller crossbred wools of the coarser varieties. It is a limited sale, the offering being restricted to 25,000 bales in terms of the New Zealand Wool Committee’s allocation, so that there should be at least 15,000 bajes for the April sale, a larger fourth auction than has been experienced for a long time.

Buyers are at present busily engaged on the work of valuation, and from the list of visitors “ in this connection there should be a fully representative bench to face the auctioneer’s rostrum to-morrow, The Continent is well represented, and although both France and Germany have eased up "considerably in their buying, these operators with the representatives of other Continental consuming countries should again set the pace for the finer types of wool, leaving Bradford to deal with the medium and coarser crossbreds in which its representatives have beeij displaying consistent interest. i The number of bales to be offered by each of the seven selling firms and the order of sale are as follows: — ; V'> = * 'j'--. vv', "Bales. Wright, Stephenson, and Co. .. 6,382 National - Mortgage and Agency . Company .. .. 4,357 Otago Farmer’ Cooperative Association V. , .. 2,004 Loan and Mercantile Agency Company .. .. . 2,068 Stronacb.-Morris and Co 1,836 Donald Reid and Co 3,216 Dalgety and Co 5,296 Total offering .. .. .. 25,249