THE WOOL MARKET

Otago Witness, Issue 3595, 6 February 1923, Page 12

THE WOOL MARKET

WHY PRICES ADVANCED. WORLD’S OUTPUT SMALLER. FASHION FAVOURS FINE FABRICS. While sheepowners are content to accept better prices for wool, as some compensation for the low figures ruling last season, the average man in the street naturally wants to know the cause of the strong demand this year and the big figures paid for superfine. As far as New Zealand growers are concerned, a further rise in crossbred would be of great importance, but it is thought that in due course this must follow to a certain extent as the better class wool is cleared. This year the demand has been for fabrics made from fine wool, with the result that prices for high-grade wool are relatively much higher. Apart from this, however, the fact is that there are less sheep in the world this year. According to Dalgety’s annual wool review, it would appear that the slump in crossbred wool values had a more marked effect on wool production in the Argentine than in most other countries. The report states: “Flocks were on a diminishing scale previously, and when wool values fell so low, wholesale slaughtering of sheep still further accentuated the decreasing supply position. It was not estimated that the clip this season would produce more than 195,000 bales. As the local industries are now using 17,500,0001 bof grease wool this would leave only about 175.7C0 bales for export, as compared with 283,000 bales. The smallest annual export for the last 10 years was 283,000 bales in the 1914-15 season.” Further on the report states that in the last three years the Argentine flocks have decreased 40 per cent, as the result of drought, disease, and slaughter. At the present time the flocks in Argentina total only 30,000,000. as compared with 67,000,000 in 1908 and 74,000,000 25 years ago. Formerly the clip in Argentina averaged 7Jib per sheep, but this season the estimate is not above 6^lb. In the course of an address by Mr Albert W. Elliott, the well-known Boston wool expert, at the annual meeting of the American Association of Woollen and Worsted Manufacturers, he staled that, as compared with 1914, the production of wool has decreased 250,000,000 throughout the world, and of that fully 50,000,000 occurred in the United States. This no doubt explains why American buyers have been so active at the wool sales recently. Mr Elliott expressed the opinion that during the next four years the world will require more wool than the present- rate of production, and there was every prospect that prices would rule high. THE DAIRYINC INDUSTRY. A remarkable season. HAMILTON, January 29 The wonderful nature of the current dairying season is shown by the fact that the production of butter-fat for December throughout the territory operated by the Now Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company exceeded that for November by over 200,0001 b, the actual figures being 6,566,6121 bof butter-fat, in payment for which */093,174 was distributed to the com panv’s suppliers on .Tanuarv 20. The company’s total production of butter to the end of December was 12,454 tons, and it is expected that the production for January will be nearly 3000 tons, or approximately 100 tons per day. If the season continues on the present favourable basis it is confidently expected that the production for the season will reach 21,000 to 22,000 tons. In addition to the increased output the quality of both butter and cheese is greatly improved.