WOOL OUTLOOK

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 101, 15 May 1937, Page 6

WOOL OUTLOOK

Prices - Likely to Remain at Present Level LONDON 0PINI0N • • LONDON, April 24. Wlfh' the close ; of ' the wool-seiling season in New Zealand there has been a,. general. Teview of the wool imports into Great Britain- during the past year and' a stocktaking among the induetrialists. One opinion, which will (be welcomed in New_ Zealand, is that Iwool is likely to remain around its jpresent price level. for some. time to icome. At the same time, while wool iis'a costly commodity t.o-day, compaxed (with recent years and Jjefore 1914, conjgumption by the Yorkshire mills conjtinues on a very big scale, and it is not suggested that there will be either a shortage.or.a surplus in England. » The Board of Trade returns for March iprovide some exceptionally interesting jfigures relating to imports and xejexports of 'foreign and coloniaL wool (during the past 12 months. The quanjtity of merino wool imported into Engiland during the first three months of this year, 126,129,0001b, was 33,765,0001b rfess tixan in the correspondilug period of 1936, and compared with 1935 the decline was 10,399,0001b. The quantity of crossbred -wool' imported, 110,664,000 ,1b, was 12,684,0001b less than in the cor« responding period of 1936, and 1,341,000 >lb more than in 1935. New Zealand Imports. Imports of wool from Australia np| to the end of March this season were nearly 20,000,000-lb greater than in the correspoading period of the 1935-36 season. The New Zealand total is about 22,000,0001b down. The South African :total is about 29,000,0001b less, and that of the Argentine over 7,000,0001b less. The following table shows the imports fro New Zealand during the past two .seasons: —

Marked Variations I Commenting on the figures, the Yorkshire Post states:— "The colossal wool marketing seasons have been characterised by unusualiy marked variations, owing to the spasmodic operations of more than one important buying nation, and these have been responsible for fluctuations in values and buying conditions generally, which have tended to interfere with anything like a settled buying policy on the part of the coun* tries more fortunately jxlaced. This makes it the more necessary that our import figures at a given moment should be read only in the light of events over a period. When that is done, the latest available. statistics lake on quite a diff erent- complexion. "

1935-36 1936-37 ( lb. lb. (July.. 9,555,000 17,056,000 [August . . • • . . 10,919,000 6,331,000 September..-.. 5,046,000 7,/44,000 [October .... 5,444,000 7,021,000 iNovember .. •• 3,140,000 1,782,000 (December .. •• 3,903,000 4,274,000 January .. •• 11,143,000 8,872,000 IFebruary .. . . 31,377,000 18,443,000 March .. ... ,. 33,425,000 20,182,000 . Totals .. .. 113,925,000 91,705,000