LONDON WOOL SALES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2623, 19 November 1915, Page 8

LONDON WOOL SALES

STRONG DEMAND : FOR GOOD COMBING PARCELS (Trom Cur SDcciel Correspondent.) .London, ' 24. • , Another'week has - passed, and still wo are in the thick of' the sixth series of sales. At th<; present timo- there seems to be no end to. wool supplies, and the London end. of the trade .stands almost aghast at the quantities which are being offered. Tho present order of things-di> fers from 'anything ■ the present generation of woolmen have seen. • TKe writer well, remembers the 'eighties and 'Sineties when for a July series we had avail-' , able; something like 300,000; to' -350,000 bales. One thought those days hod gone . never, to return, but this huge conflict : has totally upset the programme of. the ■wool' tra<le, and the abnormal times through - which' we are passing render it imperative that -woolmen should be in attendance in Coleman Street for many weeks iil'succession. Last Tuesday it was ' announced that the next , series of sales will begin on October 26, leaving. practically three weeks' vacation. The eighth series are scheduled to begin on Decern-, ber 7, and the auctions are recurring so frequently that the majority are' beginning to think that we might as well live in London as in consuming. centres. The . writer forecasted at the outbreak of war - that more wool: than ever would be sold in London, and we fully expect this order of'things to prevail as long as the i 'war lasts. Of course, everybody is looking for a greatly decreased clip in Southi Australia, and the bulk : of the clip will probably be sold in Adelaide during- the forthcoming season, but whether, tho whole of the Australian clip will-be sold locally remains to : be 6eon. No doubt more wool -will be sold in the colonies during "the forthcoming season than last, particularly if America and Japan rise to the occasion and operate more exten- ■ sively, which we fully expect. The Bradford representative of a well-known Adelaide firm said to the writer a few days ■ ago that something like thirty American • buyers had sailed to Australia and New Zealand, this number forming a record in the.history of tho trade. - During the past six weeks home buyers apparently have not been in the best form, and there is no wonder. It simply means that the home trade is at present very; well, filled-with : wqol, in mission combers state frankly .that "they i have iyjw as much, on hand as they can .' gc't through with in the- next six months, . and several firms have bought practically nothing; at the current series of Lon- i don sales. This- is entirely due to big i stocks at home and a little ,financial i stringency, in fact, several firms s want to i see how things are going to , shape in fee • colonies before further committing them- ; 'selves to the purchasing of largo quantir . . ties of raw material. . Several have said 1

that there is more wool in sight than , the trade can lift, but the same story was told last season. As a matter of fact,_ when the whole t?ade gets together, they'can lift big quantities. At the same time, one feels that the lack of French mid German support will be felt, and : therefore the .'huge. quantities they. have ' asually taken will all fall to Great Britain, America, and Japan. We are looking forward t-o considerably increased buying, particularly by the last two named countries, it being our firm" con-nctton-that .America- is destined to bo' an important,factor in deciding wool values in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa-during forthcoming months.

Satisfactory Demand for. Good Merinos, Good combing merinos are selling as well as ever. During the week wellknown clips from Queensland hare been offered, and the reception they have met with cannot be complained about in'tho leasi. . We must acknowledge that every class of .raw material that shows a. weli-. grown staple is selling at maximum values. One has only to mention 15d. . being /nade for the Milos, the- tup . lots 1 of which would give- 40 per cent.- clean yield, to/ show that . there is;; nothing wrong with wool values.' Nooiido-grown yii> Maranoa realised TGd., and it jrovld not-give more than 48 per cent. This aiid other. similar wools show; a good length of staple, which led to prices, being paid which almost seemed irnposible. They were taken by well-known West" Biding spinners, to whom price evidently does not appeal.. Tho tops will cost 3s.

3d. to'Ss. 4d. when, the wool is combed, and yet.' if a man will be content with combing, pood pieces and bellies, blended with a little combing, lie can produce a .nice C 4's, at 2.?. lOd. Length and soundness of staple are valued to-day more than over, and for these wools rattling good prices are always forthcoming. One can already foresee that it is the medium class .wools which are going to suffer-most, ■ we mean tho short Continental style wools which abound on every hand. Russia ia still'in . the market for good scoured?, South' Australian scoured merinos being sold anywhere from 2s. 2d. to 2s. 8d„ but Russia wants wools free of shiv and burr, otherwise she leaves them strictly alone. Good scoured skin wools are also selling very • well, but when troubled with burr, big prices are put out of court altogether. ■

Anyone possessing carbonising machinery con to-day operate to considerable advantage. We have seen every day nice scoured clothing wools selling at Is. Bd. to Is. 9d., Darcels which undoubtedly are cheap to those who can use them. Unfortunately prices suffer because of the ■long period-which must'elapse between buyers purchasing and bcinsr able to get them carbonised reitdy for tlie machines. : There is very good demand for JJew Zealand crossbred locks, merinos selling up to Is. 9d—a record ■ price. This emphasises what, we liave repeatedly said, namely, that'wools, either merino or crossbred, .that are- free of fault and minus vegetable matter, are selling exceedingly well, and. will continue so to do. . . ... France Less in . Evidence. "We have been" very much surprised at the. slackness of France. Buyers from that country made a very good show in July, taking both fine croasbreds as well as.fuper merinos, but tliis series they have bought exceedingly little, America Baing the prominent buyer. It is just possible that France has bought quite enough wool to see machinery kept fully tun for soine months, but whatever th», cause, they are purchasing very little indeed, and why they should be so indifferent has surprised a good many. Franca to-day is a keen buyer, of -dry combed tops, particularly for-spot'delivery, and is is a ( pity that .tliej'e are' not more availThe imfortunato part of the whole programme is that Eoublaix .and Tour, coins are still cut off from running thoir ntachinery, and news from those centres is still very sparse indeed. 1

America a Front Rank Buyer of Cross, breds.

. Tho week has been noteworthy for tho clean-cut operations of American buyers, who have supported the market in a very creditable manner every day'. We feel that Boston and Philadelphian firms have done splendidly and purchased considerable, quantities. Of course, they are- favouring. the. best-conditioned medium and fine crossbred 6, and it looks like first week July prices, when- good' 10's and 50'n .wool is selling up to Is. 7d. to Is Sd. An American buyer said this' week tiiat he had paid Is. Sd. for 46's to .48V wool that would give a clean yield of 78 per cent—a fairly 'stiff price. Of course, they always want something of outstanding merit, and all these wools have received a sensible fillip through America coming in and buying liberally. One hrm has been particularly active. Some have said that Italy has lalso /been, buying fair weights, but that is doubtful. No doubt Italy would be a fairly 'good buyer/both in Bradford and London if licenses were forthcoming, but after sending South American wool to Germany earlier in the year, the War Trade Department does not feel as yet justified in granting export licenses for that country. However, good,, medium, and fine crossbrcds are practically Id. dearer than at the close of July, but we cannot see much change in faulty wools. Bradford is liere by far the biggest buyer, and certainly is supporting the market liberally.

■ -Scoureds and slipes are selling if anything a shade better at the newly established basis of values. At the same time, the-fall of tlio last, week-is still in evidence, and anyone who can use these wools can secure some very reasonable parcels. AH things considered, we regard the crossbred ' situatioA as favourable, though naturally the fall in scour;ods and, slices is disappointing those 'watching' colonial interests.