RECORD IN WOOL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 79, Issue 7123, 21 October 1949, Page 6

RECORD IN WOOL

AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTION LARGE CHEQUES FOR TEN MONTHS Australia’s wool cheque for ten month's to the end of April exceeded £157,744,000. This was greater than the proceeds for the whole of the last season, which reached the record figure of £155,000,000. Such exceptional returns have been due to prevailing high, prices rather than to the size of the clips, but in comparing results with those of piewar years or during the wartime period of appraisements it is necessary to make 'allowance for the fact that money values have changed. General price levels are higher and all fibres' are more costly thpn they were a few years ago. Even so, part of the big return for wool is due to the scarcity of fine wools in particular, and all wool to a certain extent. In fact, on a purely statistical basis, the prospects of wool in world markets seem good. Wartime stocks are rapidly dwindling. No great increase in total world production is possible for some years, and the demand fdr consumers and the purchasing power of processing industries are both capable of expansion. It therefore isiaems unlikely that wool prices will recede to any marked extent, as the prices of wheat and some other primary products have already fallen—This may or may not ultimately benefit the industry. Where high prices and an assured market operate for a long period, production costs also tend to rise, reducing the margin of profit and the flexibility of the industry to adjust itself to meet future competition. In the final analysis, the price of any commodity depends on the purchasing power of consumers, and the future prospects of the wool industry must be considered not only in relation to the obvious ration of supply and demand but also in relation to the general level of prosperity in the countries where wool: is used.