High Wool Prices Create Concern In Bradford

Wanganui Chronicle, 5 September 1950, Page 5

High Wool Prices Create Concern In Bradford

j LONDON, Sept. 4 (Reed. 7pm). I Business in the Bradford top market I has been brought to a temporary ■ standstill by the big increases in Do- ' minion wool prices registered at the : opening of th e Australian sales last • week, and practically all firms have ! withdrawn their quotations until a I clearer assessment of the position be- ) comes possible, states the Internation- ' al Wool Secretariat special news ser- | vice. It is estimated that Australian I opening prices show more than 100 I per cent on last season’s opening, approximately 50 per cent advance on last season’s close and more than 20 per cent advance on last week's prices. In Bradford 'the top market iis based on spot wool costs at that I time. j Merino wool tops then quoted about i 200 d for 64 s average quality would need to be quoted around 240 d to 245 d a lb if based on this week’s wool costs in Australia. Yorkshire importers, while agreeing that the world ! statistical position of wool is imI mensely strong, are nevertheless nonplussed by the initial extent of the price increase. Many feel unable to follow the wool market at these prices and are taking no action in the hope 'that prices may ease a little after the first urgent wants are filled. Yorkshire firms are disturbed at the prospect that a given amount of finance will buy barely half as much wool today as a year ago, and face the difficult problem of financing wool purchases on their normal scale if the present prices persist over a lengthy period. They also foresee great difficulty in selling woollen goods in the world markets on a comparable basis and point out that consumer resistance has already been experienced tc* woollen goods made from wool much cheaper than that bought today. The United Kingdom wool importers believed in giving less support to the opening sales than in any previous post-war season, but few people would care to foreshadow how long Yorkshire can afford to keep out of the market. Trade stocks her e are not large for the time of the year and mostly are sold under contracts already entered into for tops and yarns. Official figures show that the total United Kingdom wool stocks exceed 240,000,0001bs clean at June 30. This would equal nearly six months’ wool consumption in Britain at the present rate of machinery activity, but not all this wool is in trade hands. Onesixth of the *total stock is held by the Joint Organisation and is available for purchase at auction by all countries. Most cloth manufacturers have withdrawn their price lists until they can reassess their costs in the light, of wool price developments. They , will, of course, continue to deliver against contracts already entered into and for which wool has been already bought. There is no settled basis of quotations in the top market, but limited business in merino 'tops has been discussed at prices in the neighbourhood of £1 a pound. —(NZPA)