LONDON WOOL SALES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2652, 24 December 1915, Page 13

LONDON WOOL SALES

SATISFACTORY DEMAND FOR GOOD WOOLS (From Our Special Correspondent.) London, October 28, 1915. The wool trade once more finds its interests very largely centred in Coleman Street Wool Exchange, where tha seventh series of auctions began last Tuesday. Tliero is no account, of any more than six series ever being held in Coleman Street- until 1914, and before the end of 1915 eight series will have taken place. Of coprso, present, times are such Miat extraordinary methods have been devised for getting rid of arrivals, and it is remarkable that selling brokers should be 011 the top of supplies. When one thinks that France, Belgium, and Germany, who, in the past have been largely responsible for lifting the top side, of half of the colonial clip, are 110 longer in the field as activo buyers, France only buying very sparsely, and there are only available 110,000 bales, it' 6hows that tho huge colonial wool industry has 'been kept wall in' hand, and as one looks forward to the four wesks over which the current auctions are spread, wo full expect to see the bulk of the available wools so'd. It is really remarkable that accumulations have not been numerous, and we. anticipate that the present offerings will ho absorbed at prices which will leave a handsome profit to the grower. During the actual duration of the Franco-Prus-sian War of 1870, wool values dropped seriously, only recovering during tlio time 'of boom in 1872, when peace obtained. To-day very different conditions obtain, and instead of there being very low prices, the opposite obtains. 1 lie scries begau under conditions, and such are expccted to continued. Quantities Available. For the time of the year there is -a fair weight of wool available, the actual offerings consisting of 141,500 bales, this total including about 6000 bales ot Punta Arenas and River Plate wools, the colonial offerings being 138,500 bales, kew Zealand is represented by the Iw'BßSt quantity, about 43,000 bales, *ew South Wales coming next with 38,500 bales, and Queensland with 25,700 bales, the remaining Australian States and South Africa making up the total. There should be a nice weight of new clip wools to lianci, and this will undoubtedly help to make the merino offerings all the moro a ® ce l ,t " ablo. Most interest centred around the Bale of the New Zealand crossbreds, it being these wools which to-day are the most in favour for lilinki purposes, torhmatoly or unfortunately Home trade manufacturers have .not been . f " vo,ll 'f'} during the past six months iwtli new orders for khaki serge, otherwise crossbreds would not have declined as they did during tho last two series, but the current auctions opened with very uiiieicut conditions obtaining in this particular. There is no doubt that, crossbred wool to-day is the fibre most suitable for war purposes, and with the incoming o> Italy, big weights of khaki serge wnl now be required, while some one,or other will have to provide the Balkan States with the requisite clothing required .or the war. American manufacturers find their interests entirely centred upon supolving Great Britain and her Allies with kiialii and other hosiery fabrics required by the troops. Vacation Results. The interval has been very short, but none the less productivo of good, ilje outstanding feature of the vacation lias been the intimation of tho AVar Office Unit tho Government was preapred to consider applications for licenses for exporting crossbrcd lops. The of crossbred wool took practical shapp during the last series of London sales, and now the Government lias gone one step further in granting licenses for the export of tops— a r«al boon to topinukm. We are glad that wise counsels have prevailed in this t respeqt, for during the past .week several

Bradford topmakerg disposed of considerable stocks, more than one order being for a thousand packs.This has produced a welcome change, and it goes without saying that this was the best preparation that could possibly be, made for the current series of sales. If 110 licenses for tops had been granted, then it is practically certain that crossbred ivbol would not have met with anything like the same Teception as it did on, the opening night, , and except for the best wools there would have been a further slight decline, as - .America is not a buyer of the ordinary i wasty topinaking crossbreds._ However, a 1 very different- feeling obtained' ; on the . opening day, for buyers anticipated a i little more money being forth coming for l good desirable crossbred fleece wools and f slipes. It will be remembered that the i. latter suffered, rather severely last series, t entirely on account of the absence of new 1 khaki orders liere in England. During - tho interval America has been a buyer oi B anything suitable for her requirements, s consequently the opening night saw a , very different temper prevail for tlieso e wools, competition being wider and more 3 sustained, all buyers alike beinj* prepared s to pay more money for good desirable pary eels. 0 A Decent Opening. 1 This series the programme has been e .slightly altered, tho sales beginning at 3 p.m., instead of 4 p.m.—a move in the g right direction. If the London end of the a trade would still further adopt Australian a methods of marketing wools it would help . somewhat in getting rid of the raw mail terials a little more quickly, though whe- , ther it would be any more cfticiently c filiown and sold gives rise to two opinions. ■ However, when the catalogues are only J 8000 bales per day, a 3 o'clock sale is an Q advantage, preventing the saleroom being lit up unduly late. The opening day s = catalogue contained a rather poor selec- , tion,' there being really nothing very B good shown in any class of raw_ material. Tlie merinos were a scrappy lot at their ' best, although two or three new clip - Queensland brands were on. show. Wools that showed-a decent length, and which could be called good, sold very freely at lust sales' closing prices, though for one lor two lots of the Manoiw "clip'M. more 3 was occasionally forthcoming, bull the 1 bulk of the clips could not be quoted dearer than lust series, and the same [ must 1)0 said for scoured merinos. Russia gave some very nice support, and ab- ! sorbed on the whole some good lines, but 1 paid no more than in September, laulty - parcels sold very irregularly, and very 1 burry wools seemed as if they were not 1 wanted by any party. Crossbreds attract--1 cd most attention, and' American influence 5 was distinctly in evidence. The show was. " very poor, but still the best of the par* J eels easily made a good penny more than last scries, while fine and medium supped J coarse crossbrals realised more than al. • advance, but there certainly was <i.quick--5 ened demand, duo largely to the liuu--1 cnco of outside buying. Succeeding sales ' have confirmed opening values, and good • wools aro selling freely with ' faulty parcels moving erratically. The Outlook. i Messrs. H. Dawson and Co. make tlio . following observations • regarding the fu- ? tuve:—"The short intervd of three weeks I since the closing of tho last series has . been marked by a fair demand for slipes , and crossbred wools.of all sorts, both on . Home and United States account. Tho i relative cheapness of slipes has created an increased demand, and the lifting or . the embargo on crossbred tops has brought new vitality to the Bradford trade; wlnlo in addition to the Home inquiry there lias been some buying both m London mid Bradford on United States account. JPjrinos, however, havo not up to now shared in tho improvement, but there i seems to bo an increasing interest -in the cheaper and faultier sorts by firms who have facilities for carbonising the wools. There is-not much change in the general situation, excepting that tho woollen section of tho industry, especially in tho Huddorsfield district, is beginning to feel ; somowhat seriously the lack of orders. , Machinery and workpeople will soon bo unemployed uijless orders for Army cloths from tho various Allies, which have been anticipated for some time past, are ehort- ( 1; fonlicouiing.

"The fine worsted section is still suffering from the continued and increasingly acute congestion at the combers, which is throttling the merino industry. Deliver- ■ ies of tops arc still several months in. arrear, and there are no signs of relief apparent in the near future. Meanwhile the hopes of those engaged in the export trade of being enabled to renew their overseas business become uiore nebulous. With the exception of merino tops and c yarns, the situation 'throughout the whole J industry, and especially in the raw mater- t ial, is becoming more nominal, and it is e hoped that many of the restrictions on exports to the Allies and to friendly neu- n trals (under proper safeguards) may soon a bo no longer necessaiy. ji "The new season lias well commenced ] in the various colonial markest. It will J be interesting to note how the almost e continuous selling in London, concurrent t with their sales, will affect demand and s values in these difficult times. If prefer- t ehco runs as strongly on certain classes ( as it did during the past year, or' if eco- s nomic factors', such as scarce money or T tho lessened buying power of the soyer- c eign, should assume potency, it is possible ]. that we may again see a season of wide g disparities in values and of recurrent j fluctuations. . "The reports of the .clip, m Australia ■) indicato that a big decrease in last sea- ( ' son's production, may be expected. Tho , i most conservative estimates placoit 'as £ ' 500,000 to 100,000 bales. The wool is rc- c ported to bo fine and dry, but thin, j mushy, and faulty.' j