HIGH WOOL PRICES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26748, 17 April 1948, Page 8

HIGH WOOL PRICES

First Day of Double Sale in Dunedin VALUES MAINTAINED In common with the buoyant trend shown at previous sales this season, prices were high for all classes of wool on the first day of the double wool auction in the Burns Hall, Dunedin, yesterday. The New Zealand record of 64 r ];d was not equalled, but one grower received the excellent price of 624 d for his merino entry and two further lots of fine merino brought 61fd and 61:] : d respectively. All classes of fine wool showed an improvement in price on the last sale and most classes of crossbred wool remained at about the same values as in February. Shabbier sorts, however, appeared to be a little easier. Necks and pieces, particularly in the finer wools, met with strong competition. Continental buyers were most active in this section.

Bradford and Continental buyers operated freely throughout the day, with local mills competing strongly for the best-quality wools. Inquiry was, however, widely spread. As at the last sale, the bulk of the offering yesterday was composed of ewe wools, although a number of highcountry clips were catalogued. There was a small offering of super wools, but the quality showed an improvement on that in February, this no doubt accounting for the improved prices. An innovation yesterday was the selling of lambs’ wool. Some 300 bales were sold, the prices ranging from 26d to 32d a lb. Most of the wool came to the stores in good condition, there being only a small proportion of dusty and yolkstained wools. All told, approximately 18,000 bales were disposed of yesterday, including about 1800 bales of Organisation wool. Approximately ihe same total number of bales will be offered on the second day.

A full bench of buyers participated, and the bidding was generally spirited. There was an animated start to the day’s sale, and the keen tone was maintained throughout, in many instances bids rising several pence before the lots were knocked down. The second day’s offering will be sold on Monday, starting at 9 a.m.