LONDON WOOL SALES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2659, 3 January 1916, Page 8

LONDON WOOL SALES

DEMAND FOR GOOD FLEECE WOOLS !■■■■■■ i 1 ' ■ ; . (From 1 Our Special Correspondent.) i London,' November 1. 1 Last. Tuesday saw tho resumption of the current scries of sales. The docks are ; still congested and the.labour available !'• does not allow any more; than 4500, bales : being staged daily at tho docks, the rei mainder being displayed at up-town ware- ■■■' bouses. So far not a great many ot the 1 -wools catalogued have not been shown, 1 all sections alike doing their utmost to facilitate the showing.. and disposal of .' the .wools.; One did not miss many faces • ' last Tuesday, and the auctions this week, have been fairly well attended. An im.portant .contingent was missing, and ; about half a dosan buyers were present ■ from- France. There is the same party ' from Russia that has been in London for i v come months, and staking things as a whole-the home trade is still having to ■ do about 85"per cent of the buying, pro- ; f bablr nioro. Still' France has bought a ( - , few more lots of• average scoured:.and . . and there seems to ba some ' ' carbonising being done in France. America is!!again in'the market for her spe- -. oalines,- and is buying sonio. nice lines,, ot good greasy merino fleece, also • - merino scqureds, besides taking fairly de- ■ - cent weights of slipes and greasy cross-. ■ bred fleeces. All this -means a nice dis.' • ploj- of, buying,' although thero are one • ■ ■■ or two soft spots which could be remedied to. considerable advantage. v Good\Prices for Good Wools, j : The sales' are not producing a very brilliant sbow of shafty Soutlu Australian I.'-',, merinos' it being a little too, early for , these, Still. some very good lines of scour- . ed wools from Coraillo were sold ' last , J ■ -week-end, which made 2s. Bd. for , the combing for Russia, with 25.. ld._ bid / ' for scoured lambs. We see that' Ned's, i- . Corner -is-among the list, of marks that . are available for sale, this being a shafty ; !'■■'■ well-grown- wool. ' Queensland and New South AVales are providing almost tho • , .v'hole of . the "new clip" wools, although . -West Australia is represented by several .well-known brands. Still these, are mostly. '• from northera stations, .and are red and ■ fiery, although last week 17d. was made . ' for ,a very good lot. ii uu« not matter i:. from , what quarter of the globe shafty merinos come, they.are realising excellent •i figures, being in just as good demand as ever/although we cannot see prices being more/than last week.. So,long as current- values last, we expect-growers will ...be satisfied,, i'or when ""o thinks that w# !; are engaged m the greatest war in history, and ..still nierino wool' is making • v from 15d. to 17d. for good average parcels, that alone is testimony of the . sound i.standing of the raw material. We have ' : ■ been this last week 1 - greatly impressed ' . with the class of "wool which is being t £•••.' '• ,furn&hed the'trade,-notwithstanding- the t ,' l-eceut severe drought'-in/Australia; For ( - , ; instance. Queensland is sendingwool to ] ' market v;hich is selling from lod. to 17d., e by no-means the best even at that. Some "i ot the wools are very . red and earthy, t and.yet;if the'staple shows any length, j | / the whole-room'rises'toiits feet, and-each e :*•••' man makes a frantic'-effort' to obtain a \ ■> /portion. As already indicated, .Russia 1 is hardly so keen for scoured merinos i .. as last series, there evidently being few s ; : : buyers to "push"- tho firm that .is e : . the regular purchaser, of this—class ■of e - , raw'material. Very few/ parcels are t : bringing more than 3s. 6d„ and the buyer £ has to be forced to pay that figure by i competing for the parcel. We, therefore, 'c «iv that the bulk of the shafty . scoured I . wools ar selling in the neighbourhood of i - 2s. 3d. to'2s. 5d., while-Russia is taking .j ; fewer' second-rate parcels than in Septem- j i; ber., i How Clips Are Selling. f Let, us look at a few of the Queensland 4 i clips, which afford food for thought. We e . believe the Doo'ndi clip is grown in Ma- : .. ranoa. Kilcummin is a fflitehell-srown : . clip,-really hailing'from the central'dis- ' i trict .of Queensland. They were offered . ■ in .September, and again this series, and wo give below particulars of how they have sold when they have been offered :— ;. DSW/KILCUMMIN: Greasy super. ; / comb'ing, September 15, llJd., October 27, '...'J ■:: : : f

laid.; greasy first combing, l.ljd.—lad.; greasy first combing, 13d.—lid.; greasy second combing, lid—l3Jd.; greasy second combing, 13id.—ISid.; greasy combing, 12Jd. —12Jd.; greasy combing, 12d.—lOd. bid; greasy first clothing, 12d.—12d.; greasy necks, 13Jd.—13Jd.; greasy broken, 12}d.—12d.; greasy pieces, ,10d.—SJd.; greasy pieces,- 93d;—8Jd.; . greasy bellies, lOd. —ICkl. APCo/DOONDI/Jf: Greasy A combing wethers. September 15, : 16d., October 27, -15}d;'i iGd'.-loJd.; lOd-IM.; 15}d.-15Jd.; greasy B combing wethers, 13Jd.—lid.; 13-ld.—lid.'; • greasy C combing wethers, llld.— 12Jd.; greasy broken wethers,. 12Jd. —lid.;, greasy bellies wethers, lOld. —S3d. Better Prices for Crossbreds. No big weight of greasy fleece crossbreds is being offered, tho market evidently being swept clean of these wools. Of course a few scrapjy lots are being catalogued almost daily, but the bulk of the crossbi-eds on show, consist of sliped descriptions., Some doubt seems to be felt in American circles about further licenses for export being granted, but all the samo thero are firms who arc buying in anticipation of being able to get further licenses, their competition all helping to .'establish values. Anything at all decent istill commands a good Id.-more than tho wool; would have .done in September, in factwithdrawn wools that have been offered this week show even a greater advance. At the samo'tfrne, when there is any active American support for the slipes, the advance is not so strongly in evidence, the lower descriptions being very little different to. what they wei'e last series. American buyers want length, and as some of the slipes are only short they are not bringing very big prices. We find slipes, on the whole, selling rather better, particularly lambs, though a few new khaki orders placed on behalf of our own Government wouiu certainly stimulate the entire trado. We give below a very useful tablei which' well illustrates the course of crossbred values. The wools specified on offer in September and withdrawn, and the reader will see that the owner must have saved considerable money by their resale:— Bid. Sold. Sep. 15. Oct. 27. Bales. Description. Quality, d. d. j 5 ' Greasy B halfbred combing 56-oS's ISJ 191 8 Greasy B halfbred clothing ■ hoggets 56's 17$ 19-1 15 Greasy Ist. half•t. bred clothing hoggets ..... 56's 18 194 7. Greasy D crossbred combing . . .. hoggets 46's 14i I' 7 bid 13 Greasy D cross- ■ bred, combing hoggets 44's 15 16J 40 Greasy super , , crossbred combing hoggets 46's 18 19 Conditions In Manufacturing Centres. Turning to Bradford as representing the Home market, things are on the whole rather better, the firmness in london no doubt influencing Home centres. Prices for merino tops are firm, and some are trying to enforce slightly more inoney, but the operation is a difficult one. Wo find that we are able to buy good 64's at the same price that we could a week ago, there still being topmakers willing to sell for the new year on a basis of 35. For. spot delivery, 3s. Id. is the price. -No doubt it is the' absence of stocks of fine tops which is enabling , prices to be well maintained, and spinners remain busy. Crossbred tops have been largely shifted on export account, hence topmakers are all in the market askiiig more money. America is certainly more active; a fair measure of business i.5 being done, and if licenses were easily obtainable, a fairly big business would be doing, As a matter of fact, the market is cheerful, and on the whole it can be described us healthy. No licenses are going.to.be granted for the export of fine tops to Japan, in fact stocks are too small to be- milked by a large export demand..