BRISK OPENING TO SALE

Southland Times, Issue 23734, 4 February 1939, Page 6

BRISK OPENING TO SALE

SMALL PERCENTAGE OF PASSINGS GROWERS SATISFIED WITH PRICES There was every indication from the beginning that the sale would be brisk. The buyers were impatient to begin, particularly those representing French firms and when the first catalogue was offered the continental buyers immediately made their presence felt. With the offering of almost every lot the demonstrative Frenchmen were on their feet and calling furiously to attract the attention of the auctioneer. In the first catalogue 203 lots, comprising 1965 bales, were , put under auction within 20 minutes, only two lots being passed. Without any interruption the sale proceeded steadily and a few minutes after six o’clock—four hours after the market began—the last lot was sold. An even greater percentage of the wool than usual was classed and binned by brokfers and was sold in big lots. This system has proved advantageous to growers because the buyers have found they can rely absolutely on the classification of the wool by brokers and for that reason are prepared to pay higher prices than for similar wool less rigorously classified. REACTION OF GROWERS There was a big gallery of growers in the Civic Theatre throughout, and the sale was followed with keen interest. The general reaction of the growers to the sale was one of satisfaction that prices had shown an improvement. In most cases the valuations placed on the wool by brokers, based on recent northern sales, were exceeded and to this extent the growers received a better return than they had anticipated. A few growers had not been prepared to accept the valuations of brokers and had placed a reserve on their wool which was not reached at the auction, but the majority later instructed their brokers to negotiate privately for sale on the basis of the ruling prices of the day. The passings amounted to less than 1000 bales on the total offering of 24,000 bales and brokers indicated late last night that they had succeeded in disposing of the greater part of this amount. At the first sale last year about 2000 bales, of an offering of 28,000, were passed and were later included in the March sale, but this year the held-over wool will amount to only a few hundred bales.

The opening prices showed- crossbred wool selling up to 10|d per lb, with pieces to and bellies to 8d and these rates did not vary as the sale progressed. The second catalogue produced a bid of 12d per lb for a line of crossbred wool and this price was not exceeded in the remaining catalogues for this class of wool.

LINCOLN WOOL SELLS WELL The top price of the sale was secured for a line of eight bales of Lincoln wool offered in the binned lots by the National Mortgage and Agency Co., Ltd. This class of wool is seldom seen in Southland catalogues

and apparently proved very attractive • to the buyers. (The lot realized 131 d per lb and was purchased by Andrae and Company. Another line of six bales of long Lincoln wool offered in the same catalogue was sold at 12£d per lb, the buyer being Willey and Company. In the crossbred section the highest price was 12d, four lots reaching this figure. Two lots of binned superfine crossbred ewe wool offered by the National Mortgage and Agency Company, Ltd., aggregating 67 bales, were sold at 12d per lb to Murray, Roberts and Company, Ltd. The Southland Farmers’ Co-operative Association, Ltd. sold six bales of crossbred ewe wool on account of Millar’s estate (Hedgehope) at this price to Simonius and Company. Another line of super crossbred ewe wool, offered by J. R. Mills and Sons Ltd., comprising eight bales, was sold at the same price to J. W. Swift and Co. STATION SHEARING DELAYED For several years the Eyre Creek growers, Andrews and Darricott, have secured top price at the first Invercargill sale, but their wool was not included in yesterday’s catalogue and will probably appear at the March sale. Because of the late shearing and the reduced allocation several prominent station owriers were unable to include their wool in the catalogue for the first sale and the quantity to be offered at the second sale should be higher than usual. A suggestion was made at the beginning of the season that the catalogue for the second wool sale should be sub-.

ject to a limit also, but this proposal was successfully countered. That such, a move to limit the selling at Invercargill would be unwise was emphasized and it is thought unlikely that the suggestion will be made again. If the proposal were put into effect growers might easily find themselves compelled to send their wool to another centre for sale after the allocation for the two Invercargill sales had been filled. The most reliable comparison with last year’s prices was to be obtained from the catalogues of binned wool offered by brokers. As the wool. is divided into a big number of separate classifications representing very fine classing of the clip exact comparisons are possible, except that wool showing the effects of an unfavourable season could not be expected to bring prices as high as when it was in first-class condition. For that reason, it is probable that much of the wool offered yesterday suffered by comparison with last year s offering, but the comparison of realizations in the various grades is of interest. This showed that the finest grades of wool had suffered substantially in price at yesterday’s sale, realizations m some cases being more than twopence lower. Coarse crossbred wool, however, quite held its own in a number of lines, although a fairly general reduction of from a farthing to a half-penny a pound was shown. Some lines were quite as firm yesterday as a year ago, while others actually showed an increase. > REPORT BY BROKERS “Taking into consideration the dry spell experienced last autumn and winter the wool opened in good condition, stated the official report of the Invercargill Wool Brokers’ Association, “Prices were slightly better than at the recent sales held in northern centres and in most cases exceeded the brokers valuations with the result that 96 per cent, of the catalogue was sold at auction. Bradford and France were the principal operators while Russia, Germany, Belgium and Japan were also in the market to a lesser extent. “The sale began at two o’clock and finished a few minutes after six o’clock, during which time 2250 lots were sold—an average of almost 550 lots an hour. “The price of hogget wool was practically on a par with the prices obtained in northern centres, but crutchings and good type crossbred ewe wools were distinctly firmer.”

GOOD SELECTION AT LONDON SALES AUSTRALIAN MERINOS SELL WELL LONDON, February 2. At the wool sales 7492 bales were offered, including 2651 from New Zealand, and 6015 were sold. There was a good selection, chiefly of Australian Merinos, which sold well.

The range of prices was as follows: — Lincoln Southdown A, super Southdown B d. 124 10 8 d. to 134 to Hi to S3 Halfbred 5O’s-56’s— Super 10J to 11 Z Average 10 to 101 Inferior 9 to 94 Extra fine crossbred 48’s-50’s— Super 104 to 11 Average 94 to 10 Inferior ‘ 9 to 94 Fine crossbred 46’s-48’s— Extra super lii to 12 Super 10 to 11 Average 9£ to 93 Inferior 8 to 9 Medium Crossbred 44’s-46’s — Super 93 to 104 Average 9 to 94 Inferior 8 to 9 Coarse crossbred 4O’s-44’s— Super 91 to 10 Average 83 to 9i Inferior 7J to 8J Hogget— 5O’s-56’s 93 to 103 48’s-50’s 9i to 11 46’s-48’s 9 to 101 44’s-46’s 9i to 10 Necks— Fine 10 to 104 Crossbred 9 to 10 Crossbred pieces— Good to super 8.i 64 to 94 Average to 8 Crossbred bellies— Good to super 8 to 83 7! Average 7 to Crutchings— Medium to good 7J to 94 Inferior and seedy 6 to 7 Locks 44 to 53