LONDON WOOL SALES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1641, 7 January 1913, Page 8

LONDON WOOL SALES.

SERIES OPEN WITH MERINOS AND CROSSBREDS SENSIBLY DEARER. (From Our Special Correspondent.) London, November 20 Once again the whole, trade liuds its interest focussed in Coleman Street Wool Jixchange, tho final series of-tho year beginning lost. Tuesday. It was. indeed a jemai'Kablo time, the whole trudo coming together lull oi espectnucy. Regular readers of this issue havo been kept appraised weekly of tho general movement of, wool, tops and yarns in the premier Yorkshire textile centre, and. a lively timo during any interval can always betaken as indicating a corresponuingly brisk period at tho next series of. Londonsales.- In fact, Coleman Street, at ono stroke, sizes up the actual standing of the raw material in ' all consuming centres, and the trade caino together last Tuesday feeliug full of expectancy, .and prepared to pay higher prices than they did last series. Alter/all, notwithstanding a booming trade, to be faced with hiving to pay sensibly higher prices at tho beginning of an Australian season, is oho of thoso experiences which is not realised by any section, and to-day, with wool being so dear, a little concern is naturally being'felt by some, 'and a strong spirit of caution is' manifest.' However, Hie whole trade assembled on Tuesday, eagerly desiring the raw material. The fact is,' a shortage is strongly in evidence,, many firms.are.in tho queer position of wanting big supplies of raw material to execute existing eontracts, and have vory little indeed by them.- Seldom has there been a time when the whole industry has been so near the sheep's back as is the case to-day,', and owing, to the continual hardening of values at selling centres "down under," many firms will be compelled to operato this series in Coleman Street, and. ,pay prices which, they, never dreamt ' about. The. trade assembled on Tuesday-with, a' full knowledge, that wool will be dearer, and that there was a prospect of; an extraordinarily keen demand, ': , VACATION RESULTS., -" Little spaco need be'devoted to going over what has transpired since'the-close of the previous auctions. ' ;At'the isamo time, it is advisable that every reader should bo informed of the sensible advance'in values'which has taken place, for in this fact we have the explanation why-wool should so advance on the opening day. If values for tops and yarns had declined, wool would have 'followed 6uit, but having' risen so much it was only to be-expected that the raw material would show a correspondingly, enhanced price.: When the last sales; closed, ho one expected to see prices: mount upwardsin the way they have done, and tlic higher quotations to-day are all due to the extensive business done, .together -with 'a pronounced shortage of raw material. Thei following -table' shows where values for; good descriptions of tops and yarn stood when the last, series of sales finished, and what were average quotatioiis at the opening df'tho current series,last Tuesday;—, - ~'.--..'■'■"■/V : Oct. 10.- Nov. 21. •'-! Dessription. 6. d. ,s. d. ■ 70s Colonial, tops, average 2. 4 ' 2 TiJ Gl's Colonial tops, average 2 .31 !'}• 60's Colonial fops, super ... 2 2j. 2; 4.' 50's' Colonial- tops,- 1 Sij .1 9i 48's Colonial tops,, carded ... 1 if/ I" s|. 4G's Colonial tops, prepared 1 4j 1 '5$ 40's Colonialjtops;.carded,... 1 ,34 '1 4§ 40's Colonial tops, prepared: 1' 23/ /l" 3j 40's Colonial tops, carded,... 1 2J; 13 ,3G's Colonial tops, prepared 12' 1 3 -1-30's super demi-lustro yarns ■;. '■per gross'-..'. '.....'.,.80 8 .3 / 1-30 sdemi-lustre yarns; per ■•". ■.'■■' •-..'■ : gross ;..;...:,............. ,8 ,0 . 8 3 1-60's super (64's) Botany p'er ' ■•'" gross ...'.;..>. '....".''7- 6 19 '2-48 r s white (G4's) Botany ' ' .per gross ...........,....../..... ,2,1H 3 1J 2-32's worsted (40's) crossbred ---.•:•■■ . - -per lb ;....... .:.;:,........ 1 8j : 1 9j 2-40's worsted (4G's) crossbred' '' "■',- ,"/' '■;■ per lb. ..;.;..........„ :.,;. 1 112 : "2-^Oi' ;;''-'-:' QUANTITIES AVAILABLE. '■■ ' *•:, The list,/0f arrivals" has'-'been 'eagerly scarinod every'week, ■ and■ the series willonly occupy tori sellingidays owing to the comparatively'small' quantity '.of -'wool' available.' ' Practically -all the'.offerings will consist of new clip merinos, and the trade will have an opportunity of seeing nioro. thoroughly the character of the; newseason's wools. It will be seen froni the particulars furnished below that' there aro 31,500: bales less this series -than: at the corresponding, series a year ago, and this is to'boregretted;'i'or tho.trade could have.done wuth twice as much wool at the present time., The quantity'of, New Zealand produoe is -not. half ■ what it was at tho corresponding series a year'ago, but 18,500 bales • approximately represents- a normal quantity, aswill be seen if we, go, back to' those years when average .conditions have prevailed, tho amount bedug .about equal to' 1910, 1000, 1007, and; 1904. ,The trade will have no difficulty in lifting the small quantities, of crossbreds lavailable, and prices will no doubt appreciate./ Tho following, which is well worth analysing, is our usual table, showing the quanta-; lies which have been placed on the market at the same series'during recent years:— ARRIVALS FOR THE : NOVEMBERDECEMBER SERIES. . ,0 ... , Gross - Porw'dcd. . Net" . 'Last Arrivals. Direct. Quantity, Series. Sales. Bales. Bales. 1912 ....;; 138,200 48,000 .97,200 '1911 144,500 42,000 128,000 , ; 1910 ' 150,300 4G.500 117,000 '■ '■; 1909 ....;. 152,000 57,500 ' 98,500 1908' 182,000: 41,500 177,500 '1907 ...... 154,300 ',37,000 ' 125,000 ' ■'" 1906' ...... 121,300 '' 21,500. -105,500 - - !' 1905 131,800 ■ 28,000 107,000 . : 1904 ...... 90,000 " 14,500 79,000 / 0 1803 99,000 21,000 '84,000 '.-1902 1 -107,600 '33,000 '101,000 : 1901 ...... 267,300 69,000 233,000 ■■'■'; : A-SATISFACTORY OPENING.- ' Punctually at 4 p.m. the sales opened, buyers having previously gone round and l valued the 718(1 bales which comprised itho /opening day's catalogues. A gcod show.was to be expected, selling-brokers having practically nothing to'submit but new clips from Australia. ; There never need be any reserve shown on an. '-open-, ling day with the market where it is, and from first, to last .'there'was. no holding back whatever on the part of: buy- 1 ■crs. From the start ''competition-: rilled very keen, both the home and-Ooiitiu-' erital trades manifesting a keen dosire to operate. It was sooij seen that higher prices were being bid,' and the. demand for nierinos was certainly all that could bo desired! The best prices forthcoming were undoubtedly for. the shaft}*, South Australian merinos, arid for'these the advariee'wae practically 10 per cent. This cannot be said/for all tho iherinos catalogued, the [improvement being generally put/dowh'at 5 to 7J' per cent.,.or, say id. lb Id. per lb. There, was general agreement that' tho ■ Swan River wools hardly showed the advance which some descriptions did, due no doubt to the extreme prices which were paid last series. Still, the improvement was clear-, ly seen, and at the advanced rates, a splendid sale , ensued. _ Good scoured wools generally appreciated Id., and . faulty' wools' must bo called Jd. to Id. dearer. Crossbreds were only represented" by a few lots of coarse, and for 40's to 44's crossbreds suitablo for America, some extreme prices were paid. Slipcs also appreciated a good Jd.,' 1 and' tho samo ' can be said of ; Capes.THE OUTLOOK. . Summing up tho situation, Messrs. H.' Dawson and Co. say:—"Tho market has opened to-day under circumstances which are very abnormal and perplexing. In spite of political complications, with a war in South-east Europo, and the fact, of dear money, the raw material has made a further sharp advance in values since the closing of the. September-October series, and this despite the high prices and advanced level established' at that sprits. The primary cause of this lies in thu fact that inst season's record clip from tho colonial centres of production has been completely absorbed, and a hungry market with idle combing machinery is impatiently calling for new supplies. This urgency accounts chiefly for the excited market in Bradford- and the advuntcd lovel in London, but with larger olTcrinsrs in the colonial. markets, which are now in full swing, there js no disposition (as might have been expected) to treat tho present development as a temporary spurt in values. Prices are hardening in every selling centre, even though supplies are now becoming plentiful, and it' is evident that large consumers are operalin? with oonndouco for next. your'» requirements, md Boom prepared, to accept a consider-

ably higher lovelVof-values as'tho basis .for.next year's business.:- • ,'■- , : :,, The grounds for: such eonfldonoo appear to be that the industry'in.-gencral is.finding Wade prospects'.to be"goo<l,.arid that somewhat -suddenly-'also-realised the fact that' tho •> short-ago /in the Australian merino:' supply,'is--more serious than had been anticipated. • Messrs. Dalgety and Co.,- whose estimates always command, confidence, have'announced that it will probably reach 350,000 bales. Tho small increase expected in South 'Africa and perhaps Uruguay will not nearly compensate for such a serious deficiency. iri Australia. The i Home trade unfortunately waited too long to assure its 6hare of supplies in the earlier markets, having doubted tho stability/ of the basis 'established at'the commencement of tho colonial - seosori." The caution and restraint which then obtained' have now been thrown aside, and have' only given strong; er impetus to a keen buying movement, which it is possible may e'asily be overdone,: and result in some reaction. Hunger and imperative urgency aro strong factors at the moment in Loudon,; but the situation is made more perplexing by the fact that similar values are .ruling in the 1 colonies, where urgent needs, cannot now betho ruling factor.',,.' •', There seems to bo a growing realisation -of.tho fact.that tho .world's call for wool has-enormously increased during the past few years. The developments in tho East, whero'tke call for fine wool fabrics .is continually increasing,' has hod -its eifect- on merinos, while in the colder climates, the, demand for, knitted goods, which, section/ of the -industry 'has recently enjoyed a large expansion of -business, has greatly increased tho consumption of crossbreds. These factors, with, the higher standard of living which is becoming-prevalent iri all civilised countries, cannot be ignored or 'dismissed as'being temporary phases.