World Raw Wool Output Down 2%

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31085, 14 June 1966, Page 13

World Raw Wool Output Down 2%

(N.Z. Prtsa association—Copyright.) LONDON, June 13. Production of raw wool fell by about 2 per cent in the 1965-66 season, according to a report published today by the Commonwealth Economic Committee.

The report says the main reason for the production fail was the effect of the prolonged Australian drought This particularly curtailed supplies of finer Merino wools. Figures for the report were compiled from the committee’s annual survey, based on its questionnaire on wool statistics. Total productino for the season is estimated at 5606 million pounds (greasy basis). The results also show: A marked recovery in the activity of the wool textile industries from mid--1965. Prices of almost all the mate qualities of wool, which began to rise last July, have since shown a slow but persistent upward movement. Raw wool stocks in producing countries are expected to have fallen sharply by the end of the current season. International trade in raw

wool and most wool goods was higher in 1965 than in 1964, and in some cases set records. The report says that after the marked recession in the second half of 1964, world wool consumption showed an appreciable recovery. The improving trend in consumption, together with some uncertainty about supplies, led to a rise in quotations for Merinos and fine crossbreds almost without interruption from July, 1965. “By May this year Merinos 64s averaged about a fifth and crossbred 50s nearly 7 per cent dearer than they had been a year earlier," the report says. Prices of coarser crossbreds continued to be depressed. International trade in raw wool and most wool goods was generally buoyant in 1965 and well above the level of the previous year when the figures were adversely affected by recession.