I OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER

Otago Witness, Issue 2860, 6 January 1909, Page 7

I OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER

OTsov Qua Special n Cobbespost>est.) S BRADFORD, November 20, 1908. WOOL PURCHASES AND PROSPECTIVE PRICES. The opening of the final series of wool eales for the current year next Tuesday directs attention to the probable course oP : values, and that higher rate? are certain ' is practically agreed ijpon by all sections of the trad©. Circumstances have fully jus- ' tified the holding-over policy of the Importers' and Selling ,' Brokers' Committee, and it is now evident that' the tide has turned. The interval has been characterised by the biggest movement of the whole year : some tremendous sales of wool, tops, and yarna have been effected in consuming centres, and it goes -without saying that there will be a response to all this 1 in Coleman Street Wool Exchange next Tuesday. Notwithstanding increased arrivals to the extent o£ about 50,000 bales, the trade is now in a. temper to lift the entire lot, and brokers will find a readiness on the part of buyera for the wool which has been such an absent factor through the whole year. Considerable surprise seems to have been : expressed in some quarters at American wool buyera operating so soon and so freely 1 at colonial centres as well as in Bradford! for English fleece wool, but ' if a careful' is made of the actual state of affairs then their present action is fully justified. The finish of the fifth series in " London practically brought to an end th« real colonial season, "new clip" wools being as a ririe largely available in November and! December. The coming series will to some extent be ar exception. All 'through this year it has been patent that t&e last Australasian arid Cape clip 3 have moved mora elowly than their predecessors, but. when all

is said and done no serious fault can ho found with the movement of the raw material. The home trade has stopped the breach in a very creditable way, for when Continental buyers would hardly make a. bid in Coleman street Yorkshiremen especially proved "game" enough to take wool when the outlook was decidedly black. The following table shows the supplies and deliveries of colonial wool during the past five years up to the end of the fifth series, and we have added transit wools and direct imports. "We would specially call the attention of the trade to the eerious shrinkage in the takings of America, for in this fact we have an explanation for their present increased activity in Australia. -The total deliveries are as follows: —

During 1900 the fifth and snrtn series were merged into one, and the above figures relate to the takings of the trade during the whole of that year. ■ The home trade as a buyer of wool fttill remains in the aggregate the largest consumer, if we take separate countries, though when the entire Continent is looked at the combined purchases of France, Germany, Belgium, and Russia slightly exceed the takings of the United Kingdom. 80 to 85 per cent, of" which we should say, go to the West Riding. The fact is very significant that those Bradford 6pinners who produce their own tops can compete and p^an equal price with either France or _QerjDany or for jhat matter even America for the wools they want, but when we come to the rank and file topmakers who buy tremendous quantities of wool they have to content themselves with the second and third combing, broken pieces, neck 3, and bellies, all of which are used in the production of tops/ It all resolves itself into a. question of price, and it's a Bubject veil worth considering whether the home trade has not sacrificed quality too much at the expense of cheapness. This can be looked at some other day, for the reply is that topmakers would gladly produce superior combings if they could command a corresponding price, but so long as the rag* is for cheaper yarn, so long must they produce that which the trade wants. In the table below we show the takings of the trade on export and home account during each series for the last two years, and the figures are well worth analysing : —

Totals .»- .. 259,000 401,000 343,000 459,000 All eyes are to-day fixed upon Coleman street, and much concern is everywhere in evidence over the future of prices. The i\riter is not in favour of any boom being engineered, but a reasonable advance of 7£ to 10 per cent, is about justified. German spinners have been caught napping-, for being confident in September that still lower wool values were certain, they sold extensively forward at very low rates, and .oare to-day very much chagrined at haying to cover at a sensible loss. It 6eems as if at all Continental manufacturing centres there is a unanimous agreement that wool is going to be good property during the coming season and all alike are in a good buying mood. No doubt America is making itself felt in a very material way also. If aotual ■trade conditions and the existing needs of users dictate prices, then there will be a permanence about values which is ardently io be desired both in the interests ot growers and u3ers.

wo; First series .. 3eoond series . . Third series Fourth series .. Fifth series . . Is g s -J e is C S ifl CP gS OO Ho oo MO Bales. Bales. Bales. Bales. 60,000 77,000 70,000 81,000 60,000 94,000 44,000 77,000 51,000 92,000 51,000 90.000 55,000 84,000 76,000 102,000 33,000 54,000 102,000 109,000