Wool Prospects

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 33, 23 February 1937, Page 6

Wool Prospects

NAPIER OFFERING Easier Values Likely To-morrow FINE STYLES SCARCE To-morrow the third wool sade of the season wiH taka place at Napier, when approximately 30,500 hales of Hawke's Bay and Poverty Bay wools will be oSered. The inality of the offering will he very ordinary, and growers must be prepared for- a definite easing in .values. The January sale at Napier constituted the peak selling. Since then the values at the various selling centres have shown a downward trend which was quite pronounted at the Wellington sale last Friday. E^ne-fctyled wools, which are not in ectiv* demand, are well in the minority,*the bnlk having been disposei of at .the fiiist two saies. Super wools soitable for/America are very scarce. The sorta offering generally are in fairly heavy condition and poorer grown than those offered at both the December and January saies. Both Bradford and the Continent willvbe provided with a wide Iscope in wMch to operate. There will be wool for Japan, but it remains to be seen jrhetSher she will want it or not. Many lines are touched with seed, with:;burr showing np quite prominently^in a few. Log staining is noticeable as the result of bnrnings in some offthe back-country distriets. Dirt, sand ' and heavy condition are faulta which detract from the yalue of nuBierous -lines. The bulk of the offering consists of fatewshorn sorts, the best having been offered at the earlier saies. .Values for extra-fine croissbred and teedium half-bred are now well down, having suffered more than other sorts, and for nxany of these growers must be,pnepared to mahe prices not more fhan those offered for coarse eros*breda, From this it may appear to , the grower that classing has not "been Justified, bnt if the wool were mixecS there would be a big risk of its being aeglected. Glassing is a factor to which the buyera are paying serious attention. The manaer in which they rake out the wool from the baleS when making their values is sufficient^ evidence that they require quality to be uniform. In both the pooled or binned lots re-class* ed in tht stores and the interlotted lines the bnyers are saved a great deal of trouble, as these offeringls are gradod. to defined standards of quality throughont. By this means uniformIty is assurecLAlthough. the market is now much •asier. prices Temain at an exceilent level when .compared with those over the latet five years. Fancy prices will be ont of the question, and growers will be unwise to fix reserves above the brokers' valuations, as, with practically all consuming, countries in the market, the prices offered will be at world parity. Any prospects ©f improving on these will be remote, Growers will no doubt meet ihe market at Wellington, where a splendid clearance was made at the reduced values. Any lots passed in will stand little prospect of again being offered > "before a full range of competition this season.