RISE IN WOOL PRICES

Southland Times, Issue 23378, 9 December 1937, Page 4

RISE IN WOOL PRICES

Wellington’s First

Sale

FRANCE AND GERMANY ACTIVE LITTLE BUYING BY JAPAN (United Press Association) WELLINGTON, December 8. At the first Wellington wool sale of the 1937-38 season today there was a small but definite improvement in prices compared with those which ruled at the opening sale at Auckland on November 27 and that at Napier last Friday. Today’s market showed an increase of a half-penny per lb for average sorts and up to one penny for good wools on those of the Napier sale, which was roughly a half-penny better than Auckland. A feature of the sale was the remarkable activity of Continental buyers, notably France and Germany, who bought heavily and generally dominated the market. A year ago Japan was the most prominent and forced prices up but today little if any wool was bought by Japan. Bradford operated cautiously and sparingly. Some good orders for super wools were filled on Canadian account. New Zealand mills were active and bought wools suited to their requirements. For the first sale at Wellington the offering was unusually small. The limit fixed by the New Zealand Wool Committee was 30,000 bales, a quantity that was disposed of easily at last year’s December sale. The fall in wool prices during the past six months and the disappointing opening to the season at Auckland, however, had weighed heavily on the minds of growers with the result that the quantity catalogued for today’s auction was only 20,500 bales. Eleventh-hour withdrawals further reduced this quantity to about 19,500 bales, of which about 88 per cent, was sold at auction. LIGHT AND POOR WOOL The wool offered today was not up to the standard of Wellington December offerings, much of it being light in condition and poorly grown, showing the effects of the hard winter and the dry conditions in the spring. Very little lamb’s wool was offered and most of the hogget wools showed lack of condition, There was a completely full bench of buyers representative of every section of the trade. From the start bidding was vigorous at the lower limits and the sale proceeded at a fast pace. Because of the small offerings buying went right through without a break. The main catalogues were disposed of in four and a-half hours, only exceptional lots remaining to be dealt with at 1.30 p.m. Competition was very keen and bidding frequently excited. Continental buyers were outstanding and a much larger quantity was taken for Germany. Bradford gave fairly good support but her buying was somewhat restrained. As far as could be learned little if any wool was bought for Japan. The United States was not in but Canada bought well on super wools. Local mills came in for anything suitable for their needs. Several brokers reported clearances of from 92 to 93 per cent. In other cases growers had placed unduly high reserves on their offerings. Of the total offerings approximately 88 per cent, was cleared at auction, with a probability of further clearances of passed-in lots by private treaty. ‘

RANGE OF PRICES The official range of prices is:— a. a.

MERINO, 64’s/70’s, 6O’s/64’sExtra super — -— Super Average 12J to 14 Inferior 11| to 121 FINE HALFBRED, 56’s/58’sExtra super —— — Super 131 to 151 Average 11J to 13 Inferior 9 to 11J MEDIUM HALFBRED, 5O’s/56’s— Extra super — — Super 12i to 131 Average 11 to 121 Inferior 91 to 11 EXTRA FINE CROSSBRED, 48’s/50’s— Super 12 to 131 Average 101 to 12 Inferior 9 to 101 FINE CROSSBRED, 46’s/48’sSuper 111 to 121 Average 10 to 11 Inferior 9 to 51 MEDIUM CROSSBRED, 44’r/46’s— Super 111 to 13 Average 10 to 111 Inferior 8J to 91 COARSE CROSSBRED, 4O’s/44’s— Super 11 to 121 Average 10 to 101 Inferior 81 to 91 LOW CROSSBRED, 36’s/40’s Super — — Average 10 to 101 Inferior — — HOGGETS, 48’s/50’s— 10 to 131 Fine, 46’s/48’s 10 to 121 Medium, 44’s/46’s 91 to 111 Coarse, 4O’s/44’s —— —— Low, 36’s/40’s — — LAMB’S DOWN, 5O’s/56’s— 12 Fine, 44’s/50’s 101 to 141 Medium, 4O’s/44’s —— —- Seedy and inferior 61 to 10 BELLIES AND PIECES— Merino, good to super 9 to 10 Merino, low to medium — Halfbred, good to super 91 to 10 Halfbred, low to medium 6 to 9 Crossbred, good to super 81 to 101 Crossbred, low to medium 1 6 to 81 Crutchings, medium to good 71 to 101 Inferior and seedy 41 to 7 LOCKS— Merino 5} to 61 Halfbred 5 to 61 Crossbred 41 to 71