CONFIDENCE IN WOOL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17232, 11 April 1930, Page 7

CONFIDENCE IN WOOL

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS NO MERE FLUCTUATION Tha slight recovery in the wool market during the last week or so is not regarded as a mere fluctuation with the possibility of a further setback. It is realised, ofl course, that it is impossible to forecast the market with any degree of accuracy. For instance, when the slight recovery was recorded at the beginning of the New Zealand selling season it was thought that that was the ibeginning of an upward trend For the past two years the market has been on the downward grade with minor fluctuations, but it is considered now that it is at such a low ebb that there are good grounds in support of the supposition that the recent rise will be of a permanent nature. The news this week has put more heart into the producers, but, according to leading Gisborne brokers, it would be a mistake to believe that any substantial improvement will take place in the near future. The recovery to a basis that will cover the cost of production even is calculated to be a lengthy process, and it may be some time before wool returns to a payable level. In the meantime the outlook is the most satisfactory in the wool position for some time, the only "fly in the ointment" being the prospect of labor trouble in Yorkshire. This may have been the cause of the conservative nature of the bidding of! the English buyers at the Wellington sale. If the Yorkshire trouble is averted, however, it would appear that the prospects for a steady improvement in thcvool are bright. Whether as a result of the improved position some of the. growers who are holding clips will consider shipping home is not yet known, but it is pointed out that the rates of exchange are now in favor of shipping to England, and this may mean possibly id per lb. to the farmer in the value of the clip. Some growers make a practice of holding their wool in store in Gisbomo until the winter months before they place it aboard ship for London, but at present the Gisborne stores are holding more than usual; one firm has about double the ordinary quantity lor this time o' the year, in addition to holdings at Napier.