THE WOOL MARKETS

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2360, 28 November 1908, Page 6

THE WOOL MARKETS

K NEXT WEEK’S SALE

MOSPECTS FOR IMPROVED PRICES.

' k’liie first wool sale in Gisborne for lie 1908—1909 season will bo hcM • i Friday next when about 000 ba.es, insisting chiefly of last season s •‘Utehiims, and a* number or ‘ dips, mainly of Lincoln and Ilomncv Will be offered. i\o date has - ffeen allowed by the woo]buyers tor ho Gisborne sale, so that it is doubt- \ %» 1 it there will be a largo attendance h' if 'outside buyers, and at .is expected >hat only the buyers of small quan--8 jities and local brokers will be in V Attendance. As far as can be gathered the recent cables from London- advising the advance in value ol crossbred wool are likely to have a good effect on the sa’e. and the merchants 'are confident that coarse crossbreds will bring from obi to 6} per lb. One local firm disposed of a clip of 100 Abates, during the last few days, to < a Bradford firm, at Gel per lb., whilst a number ol standard clips have been § offered to Home buyers at 6}d per lb. ' i without business. For several picked ' | clips tho same firm has been able, on | behalf of Home buyers, to offer 0-bl per db., but growers have refused to sell at that quotation. A ‘‘Times’-’ reporter yesterday inquired from one of tho leading woolbrokers if there was any prospect of the rise in the value of wool in the Home market being maintained. The gentleman said it was very hard- to forecast the wool market, because ■it must he remembered that the rise had come at the opening of the sales when wool was scarce. This season’s early sales would be of greater importance, because a large number of .clips had been held back by reason of the low prices prevailing at the July and September sales,_ «nd ; the rise of. which news had just been cabled justified l growers in holding back. Ho hoped that the increased quotations would be maintained throughout the January sales, when the new clips would be placed upon the London market. Much, however, depended upon American competition for woof, for the presence of American buyers had been a great factor .in the market of Tuesday last. Without that competition in the market the Bradford buyers would have the woolgrowers at their mercy, and could form a ring and do as they pleased. “The present outlook for New Zealand wool is bright,” concluded the speaker, “and I only hope that both tho American and German bnyer s will he active competitors during the London wool season.”

THE AMERICAN BUYER AND NEW ZEALAND WOOL.

There has probably never been a season (fays a (Southern writer) when the New Zealand woolgrower will lose so much as at the present time, by failure to properly market his wool. The country which has always been prepared to take the best descriptions of North Island wool and pay high prices for them is America, and there is every reason to believe that this season the American demand will be keener than ever before. There are more than the usual number of American buy-' ers in the country, and 1 they have big orders to fill. Some idea of tho bearing the American demand had on last- season’s values may bo gauged from the fast that in the 1906-7 season America purchased' 21,000 bales in New Zealand, and last season only took 2-50 bales. This is, of course, quite apart from the Now Zealand wool purchased in London; the sales of which on American account fell away to much the same extent. Coming to the question of wool preparation it is undoubted that the unsatisfactory manner in which the bulk of North Island- wools are marketed -precludes the American from purchasing them. The American ■must have the best descriptions of light-conditioned crossbreds, bcc-auso it is only good quality and good yielding wools which will warrant him paying a duty of 5d a pound—it would be palpably unprofitable to pay such a duty on any How quality wool or dirt. We . stood beside an American buyer -when he was examining wools prior to the recent Wellington sale, and noted the man’s exasperation as it came to lines, the bulk of which just suited' his orders, which he could not consider on account of the percentage of inferior wool, and ao-ain by reason of the wool being tick-stained or having the britch wool left in, while in several instances the fleeces were not skirted at all, or if skirted, the "work was not properly done. This regrettable weakness m marketing wag not oil accout of want of knowledge of classing, but neglect to take the ordinary caro any intelligent man should exercise. The bulk of tho wool in several of the parcels offered last week would have realised fully 2d a pound more had it been baled separately, and could thus have been taken by American buyers. A case came under our notice last season where an American buyer had to refuse a line which he could have given Is lid for if a small portion of it had been baled separately. The ,wool was subsequently sold to a speculator for lid, and the American then secured what he wanted at the former price of Is lid. It has to he remembered that the price of a line is the price of the poorest quality in the line. In this matter, one of ~ the utmost importance to the grower as well as to the country, the remedy is entirely in the hands of the fanner .who by the exercise of a little care and judgment could encourage the American competition, and thereby sell his. wool to much greater advantage.