OUR YORKSHIRE WOOL LETTER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3578, 18 July 1912, Page 6

OUR YORKSHIRE WOOL LETTER.

ANTWERP AS A WOOL CENTRE

(From our Own Correspondent.)

BRADFORD, June 7, 1912. The fact that there is a sale of River Plate wools this week at Antwerp naturally directs attention _to that market as a centre for handling the raw material, and as. I have never done so before, I feel disposed to-ctav to ask the reader to go with me m imagination to this important Belgian town which for so long lia s been closely connected with the wool trace. The weight of wool bought and sola at Antwerp is not colossal, but there is an important term market, and six series of sales are held annually. These two facts single the centre out as being one which has an import') nv bearing on the course of Australian, South African and River Plate woo’s. My own view is that the terme market is probably the most important part 01 the wool trade of that city, for what is done there affects every gelling centre on the face of the globe. I have never looked with great favor upon these centres either in France or Belgium, for the simple reason that, like the cotton exchanges of Liverpool and New York, prices are frequently manipulated purposely for creating either a better buying or selling basis, and the transactions done in “futures’-' are often more of a gambling nature than anything else, though they may he a. means of good to those using them legitimately. Still, I have seen prices manipulated on terme markets in such a way that the proceedings could only he. described as ■ gambling, and we all know that when a new buying season is opening in Australia, "the Capo, as well as Buenos Aires, prices are* often purposely depressed in order to create a better buying basis for those who have gone out to operate at the places named. However, we have to take things as they are, and make the best' of them, and* to-day I should like to deal with Antwerp "as a centre where wool is bought and sold. AN OLD MARKET. This leading town of Belgium has for a very long time been closely identified with the wool trade. I have no particulars showing how far hack its associations run, but even the old Dutch burghers who left Holalnd about 1650 for South Africa sent- wool back to Antwerp for sale before they had been long at tlie Cape, and there is no doubt that it was a centre of distribution in the seventeenth century. There is room for the publication of some authentic book showing the rise and progress of the wool trade in such centres as Antwerp. Roubaix, Tourooing, London, Bradford, Leipzig and other European cities. This work could only be done by some person ■possessing actual knowledge of. the trade of the cities named, but if it could be got together it' would form both interesting and instructive reading. At the same time, Antwerp itself has never developed into a large centre for the sale of the raw material, although undoubtedly big weights of wool arrive annually and are forwarded into the interior of Europe. Below are figures showing tlie total turnover of greasy wool in Antwerp during the past two years: Bales. Bales. . 1911. 1910. River Plate wool sold in public, sale ... 10,050 21,698 do by private treaty 6,658 4,644 Totals ... ..." 22,70 S 26,342 Sundry wool sold in ■public sale : 682 995 •do by private treaty 359 1,500 Totals 1,041 2,495 It will be seen from the above that the wool actually sold by public and private treaty oly totals 22,708. bales, but I think this will not comprise-the entire business clone in either River Plate or Australian v,;oo!. .In fact, there are firms who are doing a big business in colonial merinos and ■crossbreds apart from what is recorded at the public sales, although no doubt the offering by public auction is a barometer which indicates to some extent the importance of tlie city ias a wool centre. There are several firms in Antwerp who solicit buying orders from Yorkshire and Continental clients. They have what they call standard types, and if they can obtain these * orders, . they instantly transmit them to their representatives at the various markets in tlie River Plate, tlie Cape, Australia, and New Zealand, who buy so many bales ot the required type of wool to the limits given. For instance, ■ during the months of November. December, January, February and March there were two or three men on Bradford Exchange every day endeavoring to obtain buying orders, and they were onoting 40’s clean scoured wool c.i.f. Liverpool at from 10d to lid. Some big weights of wool were buugAt in this way, Buenos Aires being a long way. the cheapest market in which to , buy wool during the recent season. What they do for Bradford clients, they do for others in Franco and -Germany, hence it is impossible to gauge the "extent of the business done by what simply takes place at the auction market. Antwerp is more or less a centre of distribution, and l the business done is in the aggregate a considerable amount.

THE TERME MARKET. As already said, tlie transactions at the Antwerp terme market form, to my mind, the most important item connected with the wool trade of that city, and it is here I think where -Antwerp's importance as a wool centre is most seen. As in Roubaix and Tonrcoing, there are many firms in Antwerp who are simply interested in wool and! tops from a profit-making ■standpoint, their whole business consisting in paper transactions. As I have already pointed out, this exercises some influence upon the price of the raw material itself,, but so‘far as l tliev are concerned, their sole concern igj to buy and -soil “futures’’ and receive or* pay differences. If the entire wool trade consisted of that kind of business it would be a dark lookout for growers, but I am glad to say there are others who manipulate the raw material itself, and they are the very life and soul of the wool trade. Below I give particulars showing the extent of the turnover in top futures at Antwerp and Roubaix during the past three vears ending December 31: ' Roubaix-Tourcoing: 1909, 23,720.000 kilos; 1910, 33,505,000 kilos; 1911, 34,320,000 kilos. Antwerp: 35,610,000 ; 44,945,000; 45,565,000. It will be seen from the above that the amount of “futures” dealt in is colossal, and just to show more clearly the nature of this business, I give below particulars of the transactions at the end of last month (May 31) and the tops sold for the months specified known as the time of delivery : Kilos. Kilos. 1912. 1911. Mav 3.255,000 5,150,000 June 2,680,000' 3,100,000 July 1,905,000 2,775,000. August g,575-,OUO 2,935.000 September ... 3,255,000 2,490.000 October 1,350,000 1,885,000 November » ... 695,000 1,800'”' December ... 1,395,000 2,740,000 January ... 990,000 720,000 February ... 945,000' 405,000 March 733,000 435,000 April 345,000 285,000 PRICES STILL STEADY AND FIRM. Looking at wool conditions generally, there is really nobbing new to record compared with a week ago. Last Tuesday a three days’ sale opened at Antwerp, and as that centre is supposed to show which way the stream is running, it is some satisfaction to he able to eay that values remain intact so far as merinos are concerned, crossbreds being .slightly in buyers’ favor. This is really a repetition of the tendency of things seen lately in consuming centres like Bradford. Merinos remain steady and firm without any pronounced degree of activity. Business is being done on a very encouraging scale so far as actual deliveries are concerned, although few new contracts are being fixed up. Spinners have bought for some months ahead, and prefer to wait and see what transpires at the London sales in July before committing themselves furtljcr. A strong 'optimistic feeling obtains regarding the future, and. very few indeed can ■see much chance of prices easing- It has heen possible during the past fortnight to pick up an average 64’s at 25fd, and I dare say in one or two quarters the same can be done to-day, but one large firm who had been willing to take that price for their standard 64’s went back last Monday w 26c1. The market in Bradford remains intact. The dockers’ strike in London has not troubled the trade a great deal so far, but if it- lnd happened during a series of London sales, it would have brought the auctions to a standstill, and it is to be hoped l that before July 2, the whole affair will be put in order and work resumed. Crossbreds are very slow and unresponsive, and there appears to be little encouragement from a topmaker’s standpoint. Spinners seem to have a notion that- with there being such a big weight of New Zealand crossbreds to lift, prices will slightly decline. That was expected last series, but wool went very well, and values gained strength as the sales advanced.