ENGLISH WOOL MARKET.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16424, 7 May 1924, Page 8

ENGLISH WOOL MARKET.

CROSSBREDS STILL SUI’IIEME. (Special Correspondent .J BRADFORD, March 19. Tlio event. of the week is the opening of the per on d .series of eoloniii-l sntlos, which began in Louden last Tuesday. The initial sale was looked forward 'to. with more Ilian usual interest, due to what has happened since the close of the last series. It- is really astounding •the absorptive, capacity of the trade when in a short interval of four weeks the trade has absorbed 50,000 bales of wool, and yet- gather in great numbers in Coleman Street Wool Exchange hungry for another big meal. It cl early shows that no man can size up even approximately what is the absorptive capacity of the trade, and although it is possible to fairly correctly gauge the wool production of any country , it is not possible under preseint conditions to say with any degree of accuracy what is the absorptive capacity of the trade. We ran only judge by-thequantity of wool which remains in England for home consumption, and what is the actual capacity for working up wool by the imports inti/ others. All the same the trade came together this week full of buoyancy aind expectation, even French buyers frankly admitting that their outlook had considerably improved as o. I resuil.t of the sensible appreciation of (be franc. It commit but be far mure enemiragomonf. to them with the frame say at 85 than 120 as was the casei last Monday week. They frankly .stated on Tuesday that they now felt more flee to buy wool, and as stocks with, them are light, and trade prospects good, we expect French activity to dominate the merino section of the ma.rke-t. Of course, some have bought considerable sterling with the frame worth much less than is the case to-day, but. there is such n thing as “averaging.” and that is what many firms are doing. Naturally, the franc appreciating as it has, has furnished both France and Belgium with more buying power, and /we may expect evidence of this throughout flic course uf the current auctions. The quantity of colonial wool available is 1G5.7C0 bales, and 13.000 halos of Pr.nila. .Arenas and Falkland Islands wools. .V SATISFACTORY OPENING.

The catalogues on the opening day presented nothing at all spicy, certainly not in merinos, ,although there were some very good New Zealand and Punta Airenais crossbreds. T here was nothing whatever wrong .with these, for they furnished am excel!nut lot of wool, aim! wool well pu.it cd to the .requirements of the Home trade, in particular. The qualities -were anywhere from 40’s to 56’s, and the trade is.now going to jniss very much .Baiwra’s Victorian fine crossbreds and comebacks, wools which lia've been .such a leading feature during the past year. lit is more than ever patent to those with a- practical knowledge of the'movement of the- Australian flip tlrait thus-e using good com chock wools mri-.t Haiti depend upon London to supply them, for 85 per cent, of these words will be sold in Melbourne a,ml Geelong. However, loir medium and coarse. crossbreds London is -still a good market, an id this series there is going to be a most commendable show of New Zealand and ,South American crossbreds, which shoiuld saitiisfy the wants of most people. Compared with the close of the laid London sales, mod'. fine crossbreds sold ah .about 5 per cent, advance, medium were often 7j ta 10 per cent. higher, while coarse crossbreds appreciated JO toi 15 per cent. Even the l’uiikt Ai ■enias wools were frequently 10 per cfV.it. above January prices. The new clip is now coming on to the market, ail'd there should be a good supply of these right- up to July, although we uniderstaind theft me big Bradford firm lias jH’.reliaised about 20.000 bales of these l Puutas on the stations.

Then the supply of scoured* and slips was also a fairly decent one on (lie opening night, and although nothing great .was seen, mtiill these wools approciaitodi mostly 10 to 15 per cent., {brinks to the operations of Home .wool mercihinli'ls and woollen manufacturers. Good super siiped halfbred to-mllied 33J,d. while the Tautone clip sold ~up to 24d for grease oronsbrcd combing. and CL ester hope made 28d, the hatter being good 56’s quality wools. The wellknown brand of CALC'. slipcV; saw the three-quu Herb-red made 28d, Lice ester 23i,d', and Lincoln 21£d. 'These seemed to be extraordinary prices, with fine crossbred lambs, touching 30d, other lots selling ait. to 27d. It does show the strength of the market when sliped Lincoln la'mbs are making 22d, and if one .wants a contain Id, they scenteck (0 lie very dear compared with English pulled wools, which are to-day worth no more than 19d at- the outside; in other words, Colonial slipo wools are still sensibly higher than corresponding qivalitieis of Home pulled wools, a fact which has been apparent to those in close touch with the trade for the past six months'.

MERINOS ,AOAIN\ST THE BUYER. The missing Jink ait the current series of sales, and to a large extent succeeding sales, is going to he the marked absence of growers’ clips in merino qualities, anil we have said before that practically the sole source of supply of merino wool will be Ithe numerous second-hand parcels which will be catalogued. That really is the fly in the ointment viewed from a London selling' broker’s standpoint. There was evidence of tlvis on (he opening night, and although some little improvement lias been, sccui alt succeeding sales, yeti those behind the scenes know full well what is happening, and how crossbreds are going to dominate the catalogues. Tin's never was the ease at n March .scries of sales in pre-war times, for it wills n(t the A lay stvles when the big weight of Nenv Zealand crossbreds became .available, and it was also in evidence in. July, and sometimes at the .September auetioiie. ; To-day the programme is entirely reversed, and one must recognise facts. It is all due to the big weight of merino clips which have been sold in Australia, and London selling .brokers know that that trade has gone for ever. They Mmkly admit, ibis, and at last are having to lace the fads.

There whs nothing great on the opening day, [liradicaliv ajl the merinos being speculators’ wools, and these did not sell too well, although wha't were disposed of worn reported as going in sellers’ favor. We could see practically no change, though ,wc did think that France having got til load off if« back with The sensible appreciation of the franc, they would have bought rayonousjy everything put before them of a merino quality. A very nice line from Victoria made 36.)d for greasy merino pieces, while saw era J other lots of combing sold .anywhere from 33d to 37d. West Australian was as well represented as any State, and some of the red Mur dhlsoii wools made good figures, tow. iing.as high as 33d. and in one case. 34j)d. These .wool made values the turn against the buyer, and ah succeeding sales there is no doubt- that- higher prices will be forthcoming when the selection improves. In the meantime the opening of the series must ho regtal'ded ais excellent, and we ffiilall be gruatly surprised if the end is not even better thum the opening.