Wool Board Chairman On Portugal Conference

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31094, 24 June 1966, Page 15

Wool Board Chairman On Portugal Conference

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.)

LONDON, June 22.

New Zealand s woolgrowers are on a production treadmill: having to increase output more and more to maintain income because static wool prices are not covering rising production costs, said Mr Jack Acland, chairman of the New Zealand Wool Board.

“For this reason it ■w as good to hear the world’s wool textile industrialists calling for more wool at last week’s Estoril conference, but an improvement in prices is one of the incentives the growers really need,” he said.

“These were the two main points to emerge from the conference that the textile industry want more wool, and that the growers need a profitable margin to encourage them to increase production.” Mr Acland is back in London after attending the annual conference in Portugal of the International Wool Textile Organisation, which he addressed on the progress of the New Zealand wool marketing study group’s investigations. “An outstanding feature of the conference was the unprecedented endorsement of wool by the growers’ customers and their appeal for greater production,” he said.

“This is welcome support by the textile industry for the already strongly rising world demand for wool, and tacit acknowledgement also of Woolmark’s impact on the textile production lines.

“However, New Zealand’s coarser wools have not been sharing- the rising prices Australia and South Africa are getting for their Merino wools. With the strong demand, I am hopeful we can hold our present price position, but we need the sort of lift our I.W.S. partners are getting now. “Our average price for the season is down about id on the previous year, and has been lower only four times in the last 10 years. By comparison, Australian prices are at their second highest level in the past 10 years. "During this time New Zealand's output has risen by 200 million lb (43 per cent) and production costs have risen cumulatively by some 18 per cent. However, the average price over the 10-year periods apart from fluctuations, has not shown any advance. This means our growers are keeping ahead only though increased production and efficiency. There is a limit to how long they can maintain profitable margins on this sort of treadmill. "The grower countries had

the opportunity at the conference of emphasising the importance of price and profitability as an incentive to achieve the increased supplies of wool sought by millers and manufacturers.

“It was particularly gratifying to have the textile leaders pay tribute to the worth of the growers’ wool improvement and promotion work through the I.W.S. They freely acknowledged that our efforts were benfiting business and trade.

“The six conference committees made progress on a{ wide range of important! industry and trade problems.!

However, the over-riding impression from all discussions was of confidence in the future of wool, and this became the theme of the conference.

“Increased production is vital if wool is to maintain its place in the textile industry. New Zealand growers should benefit from the new bouyancy in demand and, as I said in my talk to the international Wool Textile Organisation, if we are to increase production, economic prices are essential to give adequate I returns plus sufficient to plough back for development,” Mr Acland added.