LONDON WOOL SALES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2723, 18 March 1916, Page 8

LONDON WOOL SALES

YERY HIGH PRICES BEING

REALISED

(From Our Special Correspondent.)

London, January 27, 1918. Some lomarkablo prices aro certainly being made for wool. The sales ihis week have ljeen conducted' Tinder very favourable conditions, and as far as one can see values are being Tealised which no one can find fault with. There are those who eay that they will last as long as the war continues, but that growers will have to be satisfied with very sensibly less when a reaction takes place. But that need • trouble no one. It is an old 6aying, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," and we have to face to-day's values, and record what is being done. , The market ds a very boisterous one, and pastoralists in all parts of the world cannot but bo pleased at what their clips are realising. The week under Teview has again 6hown the remarkable position that wool occupies. The position is certainly satisfactory when viewed from either a woolf rower's, seller's, or buyer's standpoint. n, : other isords, demand, has- overtaken supply,' ihe raw material coming to hand no faster than the trade can deal with it. It:is significant that nothing has been heard of late about the stocks of ran material already in the hands of topmakers, spinners, and- manufacturers, and as far og . a surplus'is concerned, nobody has more than normal quantities, although commission wool combers in Bradford -s- . sert that for the time of tho year they iiave bigger weights of wool on hand 1 than they have ever known,. having as; much' by ifccm as they usually have in the month of May, when they are as a rule inundated with, heavy direct iniports. Merinos as Dear as.Ever. There have been tfys week some firstclass clips catalogued, and correspondingly good prices havo been realised. If we startwith the premier State, we. see that 2s.' has been realised for Now England iwools, and up to Is. lOd. paid freely for Eiverina clips. Equally excellent prices liave been paid for scoureds, the, wellknown Shaw brand making up to 3s. sd. There is unmistakable evidence of the bad time through whioh sheep have passed, many/ clips being heavy and wasty. West Victoria has been represented, and there is" nothing, wrong, •with.' a .market 2s. per lb. is paid for grease combing wool. Of'course, everybody is very desirous of semiring-Isomething showing real good merit, consequently shaft}' deep grown wools,, either of South Australian or Kiverina origin, are making excellent .prices'. As a matter of fact, tiptop figures are :.'beins paid for ; every. olass of raw material,' whether grease or sooured, and .while averngo descriptions do not show an improvement • of more than 5 per cent., there is an advance of ljd- to 2d. oncombfully 2d ; .on;.scoureds, often morei : •depends : up6ri-»TCliat competition'; there is.' "If Russia favours a line pf scoureds, the buying -broker for Moscow does not stop .at 7d.. but Russia is not touching greasy-wools at all. Still, scoureds, on the whofe, are realising fully as much, as greasy wools, for ..the reader can see that when- 2s. is being paid for wools giving, say, an average clean yield of 51 per cent., good scourcds at 3s. to Ss. 3d. nre quite 'as dear -when the cost of washing is added. South Australia has' not been - very largely represented, but still 'the wools catalogued huve met with a hearty reception, and record figures have been paid since we last wrote for Adelaide scoureds. West Australia has also been very fully represented ,and up to le. lOd. ■has been paid,for wools of first-class characteristics. There is certainly nothing cheap to-day, and yet buyers "are as keen as mustard, and doing their utmost to acquire good stock. Russia's Great Buy. There is nothing more satisfactory in connection with the current series of sales than to see the attitude of Bussia, the excellent, support which its representative is giving to : scoured 'merinos' being all that one can desire. . On some nights her purchases have been the "star" of the sale, and one can only feel glad that , a section of the Empire is in the position- to give real practical support to the cause of our Allies in this respect, Eussia has placed in the field

a big army, and mills outsido the war area are ; working day and night. con:tributing their quota to tho physical needs of her soldiers. We give below .a well-known central Queensland clip, there being over 600 bales catalogued. • Russia took the first eleven lots, which totalled 311 bales at 3s. to 3s. 3}d., securing several more out of the remaining efferings. Of course, Russia is buying 6uitablo scoured merinos every day, and paid'3s. iid. .for. tlie well-known Shaw brand. It is not-simply showing favour to one clip alone, thero being nothing of that sort, apparent." Whatever is good and clean and .can go straight to the machine without further treatment comes in for Russian competition, and. below wo give particulars of the Evesham clip, showing the prices realised at the corresponding series a year ago. The render must bear In mind that tho prices obtained in Messrs. lE. Irwell and Col's .first sale were -mostly duo to Russian competition, ner hand being forced by two or three Homo trade buyers who were piepared to pay the same figures;— EVE-SHAM. Jan. 29, Jan. 19, .... . 1915. 191 G. Description. , s ; d. s. d. Scoured super combing W i llj 8 3J; Scoured super combing E2 A 3oj Scoured super combing EE 1 1(H 3 2" Scoured Ist combing W ... 2-0 3 2 Scoured Ist .'combing E ... 2 0 *3'2 Scoured Ist combing" EE'... 2 0' 31 Scoured AX combing W ... I]U 3 1 Scoured AA combing E ... 111 3 0 Scoured AA combing EE... 11H 3 o Scoured brokwi W 110 210 Scoured broken E ............ 1 2 10 Scoured broken EE 1 91 2 10} Sooured Ist pieces W ...... 17 2 9 Scoured Ist pieces E 2 9 Scoured Ist pieces EE 1 9J 2 8 Scoured A pieoes E ... 1 8 2 4.1 Scoured pieces EE 19 2 5 Sooured Ist bellies W4 B 1 71 2 2 Scoured Ist bellies EE 16 2 2 Scoured locks l 3$ 1 joj Scoured 2nd locks 1 l| 1 5£ Big Figures for Crossbrods, . There has been this week somo offerings of Now Zealand new clip crossbreds, and they have lacked nothing by way of attention. It is too early to 'say anything about the condition and character 01 the wools, but so far as competition is concerned, it has been of the keenest, and the prices realised cannot but satisfy those who have consigned tho wools to Coleman Street. It }s a little difficult to say exactly what is the advance compared with' December, because there were then no corresponding wools available, but we shoufd 6ay, that the rise is generally a good-Id. .Prices are certainly well ahead of what ore ruling in' Bradford for tho combed- article,' no doubt the wool being bought by khaki manufacturers being largely accountable for the high, pncea made, Up to Is. lOd. has been paid for greasy halfbred; first three-ouarter-bred has mado Is. 9*d.; second three-quarter-bred Is. 9d. j first Lincoln, Is. Dd.; second Lincoln, 16. Bd.; ordinary crossbred the same; prices which, certainly indicate a very healthy market. Of course, these • must be regarded as boom values, entirely dictated by the extraordinary khaki demands, coupled with a short supply. Of course, it is early for I the New Zealand clip, but the arrivals! are below the average for a January 1 series.Sliped crossbreds are also at boom prices,, and havo made new records, sliped halfbred lambs selling up to 2s. 4d. 1 As. a matter of fact, all sliped lambs, when clean, are making from 2s. to 2s. 4d., according to-quality. There have been very few scoured crossbred? available, but here again a good Id. advance is having to be paid on last sales' prices. The market for crossbreds .• is undoubtedly strong, and there is every appearance of it remaining so. The Home trade is the sole buyer, because none are allowed to be exported. The whole situation is certainty of a remarkable nature, and it is certain that all supplies of crossbreds will bo cleared off the market when the series como to a finish.