VALUE OF WOOL

Southland Times, Issue 19456, 21 January 1925, Page 5

VALUE OF WOOL

INSTRUCTIVE COMPARISON. BETWEEN THIS AND LAST YEAR (Special to the Times.) WELLINGTON, January 2fi. The average reader of a newspaper is apt to be misled by the reports of wool sales. When a drop in prices is referred to, it Is on comparison with the values ruling at the previous sale. Xhus the movements in the prices at the Wellington sales on Monday is in relation to the December If the realisations for this year’s clips are compared with the prices ruling at the sale held in Wellington in January, 1924, the position is such as to give pleasure. In the following table the prices of average qualities of the various grades of wool at the January sales of 1924 and 1925 are compared, and as the middle prices are taken, we get eighths of a penny. The figures are as under — Average.

It will be noted that it is the coarse and low grade wools represented by 40-44’s and 36-40’s. Another view of the matter is m taking the average weight of a bale of wool at 3201bs and according to the average prices given above the position works out as under—

36-40’s ... 16 0 0 27 0 0 11 0 0 The average gain is £lO per bale, but it is interesting to note that it is low crossbreds, the cheapest wool, that show ths greatest gain.

Jan., 1924. Jan., 1925. Rise. Crossbreds, 44-48 16Jd 23W ?d 44-46 15d 22d 7d 40-44 13Jd 21Jd 78d 36-40 12d 20id 8}d

Jan., 1924. Jan., 1925. Increase. Crossbreds — £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. 46-48’s -... 21 10 0 31 6 8 9 16 8 44-46’s .... 20 0 0 29 6 8 9 6 8 40-44's .._ 18 6 8 28 3 4 9 16 8