LONDON WOOL SALES

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27395, 7 July 1954, Page 16

LONDON WOOL SALES

PROSPECTS FOR THIS WEEK’S SERIES

(N.Z. Peess Association— Copyright) LONDON, July 6. Keen competition is expected London wool sales, which begin this weeK anfl last for a fortnight, co * nme . nts I ,JS2 Times.” No weakening of prices is looked on the world wool situation, it forecasts that firm prices are in prospect, and adds: "Whether there'Will be an advance beyond present levels depends primarily on activity in the United states wool textile industry. of Russian purchases could also lift prices sharply, but experience shows that these purchases are erratic and rarely sustained. Over the last year or so the American wool industry bas been depressed, probably as a result of overexpansion in the years immediately after th "For r some months America has been consuming about 20 per cent, less wool and wealth. "Some increase in American imports seems certain, even if there is no recovery in mill activity and stocks in the hands of the Government are released. . . . "Imported supplies at present are believed to represent only a quarter of consumption. yet the domestic output cannot cover much more than a third of tne industry’s needs. ■ "More encouraging still from the standpoint of wool producers has been .a re* vival in spring orders in some branches of the industry—though whether this reflects a general upturn in the textile business, both wholesale and retail,-or simply a temporary and selective rebuilding of stocks, is still not clear.”