WOOL PRICES SOAR

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3840, 30 November 1936, Page 4

WOOL PRICES SOAR

KEEN SALE AT AUCKLAND. PRICES AVERAGE 14rt PER LB. A sensational advance in prices occurred when the first, wool sale for the 1936-37 season in New Zealand was held in Auckland on Saturday. Rates rose about 60 per cent in comparison with the average values of last season. There was practically a complete clearance ot the 21,590 bales offered for sale, and, with an estimated average return of about £2O a bale, there is every indication that wool is returning to its former proud position as New Zealand’s “golden fleece.” Not since the 1928-29 season, when an average price of 14.9 d per lb was realised over the year, has there been cuch an amazing sale in Auckland. Right at the start of the auction prices rose with a jump, to the utter amazement even of the majority of the buyers, and high rates were fully maintained throughout the day. The top price of the sale was 26d for seven bales of half-bred from Waiheke. The dominating factor in the sale was the intense competition from Japanese buyers. They stormed the market, and operating apparently al most without limit, set a pace which was far too brisk for Bradford. The official report on the sale estimated that Japan took halt the catalogued quantity, but individual brokers were inclined to think that this was a conservative estimate. On the estimated average of 14d per lb. and £2O a bale, the return to wool growers in the Auckland province from the opening sale should be in excess ot £430,000, compared with £240,154 obtained at the opening sale last year, when the average prices were 8.27 d per lb and £l2 2s a bale.