Britain Pays £25 Millions For N.Z. Wool Last Year

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 98, 15 February 1950, Page 6

Britain Pays £25 Millions For N.Z. Wool Last Year

The annual returns of overseas trade just issued by the Board of Trade show the enormously increased payments which the United Kingdom made to the Dominion in respect of wool imports last year, states the New Zealand Wool Board. The figures show that during 1949," the U.K. paid for wool imports nearly 50 per cent more than in 1948 and, although thgve was an increase in the volume of the wool purchased, the increase in cost was relatively much greater on account of the generally higher price of wool in all markets. Britain’s bill for wool imports, which in 1947 was nearly £6O million sterling, rose to £86.2 million in 1948 and showed a further big advance to £126.8 million in 1949. Of the last-mentioned figure, Australia received £80.4 millions, New Zealand £25 millions, and South Africa 10.4 millions. The volume of Britain’s wool imports continues to move upward. In 1947 they totalled 620.6 million lb (actual), in 1948 the figure rose to 674.9 million lb, and last 'year it advanced further to 814.9 million lb.