WOOL TRADE

Hokitika Guardian, 15 August 1932, Page 8

WOOL TRADE

BRADFORD MARKET. FIRMER TENDENCY REPORTED. BRADFORD, August lOj During the past, fortnight the Bradford market has been definitely firmer for all qualities of merino and - fine cross-bred tops. In fact, the firmer tendency extends down fo ,50's quality. It would appear that users of tops had made up their minds that it was worth, -while to buy , substantially on the. basis of what they had paid during till© brief covering movement barly iii June. Sqch prides'at for M’s average had', been accepted for fairly large weight’s, and’attempts were made ■ to' 'buy agahi on' -that 'level., Experience .had; proved, : however, that’ top makers are not disposed to sell again at such prices, They,, have, been refused offers, of substantial business at 20d, and 20£-d, has. become*' established as a rockbottom selling , price. Although there has. been' a -large amount of inquiry this week, not, much : business has been done because of the difficulty of agreeing about a price.. . . ’ *• ' IMPROVED TONE. The fact that there has been so much inquiry, coupled with the . firm attitude of' topmakers 1 , has improved the tone of, the market, and everybody realises that there would soon be a substantial buying movement if the trade outlook generally showed any sign of improvement. The opinion is grow'ipg that, the,, bottom ,of, the., decline been reached, for, fine'“wools. .. and it is fully realised that oveii “the lower , sorts 1 :! must be somewhere Ueai’ the tur-p point.. It is only the AacL that stocks* of medium and. coarse; pioal and. tops in the .hands of .the 4 trade are so plentiful .that keeps the market rather weak, -Some very ch©ap -lots of, . -South. American wool have been picked up, which has enabled topmakers to.,offer tops at Very low prices, and this, of course, reacts unfavourably upon New Zealand wools. ENGLISH WOOL FAIRS, . |

The 'English .wool fairs, are now, in full swing, but prices,. aTfi, bo/low that ; many farmers are' keeping back their clips in the. hope of doing better later on. Sufficient wool has been soW, however, to enable a basis. to be fixed, and there is an all-rOund decline on Inst year. For example, Lincoln hoggs and., wethers, are now quoted in Bradford at '5-}d and sd, as compared with 8(1 and 7d a year ago. Ordinary ha:Hbred. hogs and, wethers are quoted at 6d and 5Jd. /as , compared with ‘ 8d a year , ago; whilst pick; hoggs arid,wethers .are B£dj. as compared, w'ith lOd; Sussex tegs and .ewes 9jd', , aa' compared '.with, ,123.;,, and ,Scqtch black- j faced-.Sd, as...compared...wijdi. are, of course, extremely,low . and' •they:.,include the", cost ot transport to Bradford,., classing,,, warehousing/ and profit,' The farmers cOmpiairi that' what .they are getting,, in many does- not .pay . for the cost of shearing. The demand is likely .to, to absorb all .the. fine Downs, 'wliioti., are really speciality .wools, used, ‘largely in the hosiery trade, but farmers will .find it difficult to dispose of the stronger wools. ! OBSTACLES ABROAD.. V- ' : •, ■ y.}. 'fsy

Machippry activity continues to de-.. dine, and In ®6me branches, of the industry employment is no bettei* than it 'was a year ago. That is to say, all the improvement .which followed, upon the; adoption of a Protectionist, , 'pP'icy j by the Government , has > been lost. ) When home trade stocks , had been re- J planished there, was, an inevitable fall-| ing off in demand, and we are now--in'; a bctween-seasons period. , The , export;| trade, shows no sign of improvement, aiifd cannot he. expected to, so , long as , foreign governments impose restrictiqns. on payments- for imports or. adopt quota .systems, Exporters here ~ -are . very biftbr against some foreign cburi-., tries for holding up " British capital.jj Even Denmark, which ; exports;, five <; times as much to England as England exports to Denmark, is restricting imports from this country and. .payments, for imports. The, various Chambers of, 'Commerce have this week, sent strong protests to the Government on this sub- 1 ject. rt-.is pointed out;.that, something ! like £5,000,000 is . locked up .in foreign countries, which ought; long ago to have been remitted to West Riding exporters. The effects of this restricted export ‘ hade and the failiing off in the home tfade is shown in the official returns with regard to unemployment.. At the end of May the number of operatives in the wool textile industry who were applicants rov employment at the Various Employment Exchanges was 32,662> compared with 22,457 at, the end of . April, 1.8,312 -at the end of>•"''March; 50,132 in September of last y«ii r and 38,510 in May of last year. 1 The woollen ! section has suffered to I greater' extent than the worsted. The Remand has been' better on dress , goods f.han off any other form- of textiles There has fortunately been a prolonged jjpell of fine weather, which has enabled k fX)neiderable ‘''proportion' of .retailers’ stocks to.,be cleared,