OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 9

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

(Fhom Otte Special Correspondent.)

-AMERICA'S WOOL TRADE. BRADFORD, January 3 Tt is We 1 ! known to everybody that America has been the prime factor in causing wool values to seriously fall, the financial ciitk at the end of October being fe't in every market in the world. Ever sincv, all eyes have been upon that country, and it is only by the nearest shave that Germany ha= not followed suit. However, ! even fhpre grept uneasiLess has been ex perienced. and it is as yet too early to say that in -the Fatherland the crisis is passed' It is generally acceded that wool can only recovei when Ameiica shapes more like business, and when money is again available in sufficient quantity to pay for commodities. There has been a lot of forced realisations here in Bradford by about the biggest firm in the trade, with a. large American connection, gossip being rife that this firm had £100,000 to raise and deposit in American banks by the en 3 of 1807 to meet prompts and reduce overdrafts. The result is prices have seriously suffered to the extent of about 4d per lb all round for all qualities of tops. The writer is in very close touch with American wool markets, every week obtaining the best reliable reports as to what js doing. This week the following interesting Hews has come to Hand, and as it wa« written towards the close of rh,e year, when . stocktaking was general, it is fairly en- I couraging: "While the past, week has in Bo sensi developed 1 any sensational features, the general strength of the market has been maintained, and from the standpoint of actual sales the week has been more successful than late previous ones. As the end of the year is approached it becomes evident that desirable wools have been, and are, in stronger hands than manufacturers expected. It ib true that each day a certain number of small transactions are put tfirough at prices that show a slight deviation from regular quotations, but with few exceptions they are odd lots which the holder ia willing to let go at a slight concession for cleaning-up purposes. It is also evident that in many instances there are conditions attendant upon an individual sale whioh do not become public, and which in Ho sense affect the general market. A (Jealer may make a concession because, in ilia judgment, it is reasonable, but owing to general trade conditions and their different effects upon individual concerns enre must be taken to avoid imparting general significance to this procedure. To be sure, & bearish attitude still exists in buying circles, end while it results in bargains in certain small trades hinted at above, it has little effect on desirable wools. For the time btinjf few very large transactions arc being put through, but on fleeces, staple terrorises, and Australian wools particularly prices are very firm, and buyers expecting that «. slight shading from quoted prices might be possible are destined to disappointment. Many manufacturers who, expecting an easier market, postponed purchases are discovering: at the end of the year inventories that their supplies of good wool are lower than they calculated, and in not a few oases it is found that there is not enough on hand to run out goods to be delivered on future orders. The .result of this is renewed sampling and general inquiry from many quarters which for a period have been quiet. This naturally lends an encouraging note to the entire market, and gives promise of business during the coming weeks, unless signs fail." I have to hand the valuable review of the wool trade in the U.S.A., -written by Mr John Bruce M'Pherson, secretary to the National Association of Wool Manufacturers in U.S.A., in which he deals, in an exhaustive manner with the course of events during the year just closed, giving important statistics as to wool consumption and production. , , m . In the course of his review Mr M Pherson places the number of sheep in the TJ S A. fit for shearing in 1907 at 38,86* .932, oompared with 38,540,798 in the preceding year. Decreases are to be found in some o! the grazing States because of larger shipments than usual last autumn, due to the attractive prices obtainable for bo*h wool and aheep, while in some of the States ol the East and Middle West the numbers fca.ve increased. Prices were again high (or all kinds of sheep stock during most of the year under review, and tiwse, together with a contraction of the range, account in large measure for the decreases to be found in some of the range Sia!-rs.

The season of 1907 was unusual in some fespeots. For the first time in fovoral years no considerable quantity of wool vte early contracted for on the sheep's back. When contracting was in vogue buyers' representatives appeared in the field in conBid«raible force early in the winter, and even some months earlier straggling buyers ■Were o-tout looking for contracts. This year few. if any, appeared in Montana before May, -and the great bulk of the State's. eiip was purchased late in June. This holdJng off of the buyers was at once attriluted to a "combine" formed to depress prices, "rob the gTower," and "secure the 1907 wool at from two to five cents a pound below the market value." Ths tight money which the dealers feared, toTl at the suggestion of which the growers ooffed in the spring, became very real in toe wtwra, ana but for a quick turnover i I their purchases, before the stringency betune acute, the dealers might have eufared severely by reason of it. As it was, •v money was made by tihem this year 1 ukn last, when the profits are said to nave I **n mep^re enough. Muoh es the growers

complained of the offers made, they fared distinctly better than the men who bought their commodity, whose heavj expenses and costly establishments the growers too often fail to consider during the negotiations for the purchase of the wool. It seems queer, says Mr M'Pherson. that wool-growers should make more and louder complaints in these days of supremely gec't prices than they did in ths fiee wool period of the early sixties when wool was a drug on the market, and they rejoiced in securing one-half to two-thirds the present prica*-. It may be the explanation is that then they felt wool was not worth much, and they were gad to get anything at all for it, and that now, feeling wool has -^alue they are disappointed if the prucs conjured with during the winter months are not rea- | Used. But notwithstanding the complaints, the sheepmen of the State realised the highest average prices in the hi-tory of the industry, with but one exception. Moreover, the small growers fared just as well as the big ones this year. In 1906 the big clips were taken very early at high prices. and when the market fell off later the smaller men had to be content with lowci figures Such variations were not experienced last year, which is acknowledged to ha^e been a more profitable one than 1800 the average piico being close to 21 2 and It cent", (103 d and lid), a half-cent, higher j than in 19C6, tlie be^t previous average be ins? 23 cents (Hid). Tho total production of the country for 1907 is 298,294.7501b. equal to 130,359,1181b of scoured woo 1 , 948.1761b in e\cess of the estimate for 1906. The excess is _ partly due to the decreased shrinkage noticeable in ths wools of all sections. The total value of the wool olip for the j year, estimated on the price in Boston, ] October 1, is about the same as last year, being about 1.7 per cent, smaller. The average value per lb of the fleece and the j pulled wool has decreased 2.3 per cent, and 3.9 per cent, respectively. The value of the clip has decreased from <9,721,383d0l in ISO 6to 78,263,165d0l in 1907 (Five dollars are equal to £1.) FOREIGN WOOL IMPORTED. Classes 1 and 2.

The average weight of the domestic fleece is 6.601b, a decrease from 6.661b in 1906. The weight for 1905 was 6.561b, for 1904 6 501b, for 1903 6.251b, for 1902 6.501b, ,nnd for 1901 6.331b. The average shrinkage is 60.6 per cent., a decrease as compared with 1906, when the shrinkage was 61.8 per cent. s or 1905 the shrinkage was 61.3 per cent., for 190* 61.6 per cent., for 1903 60.8 per cent., for 1902 60.0 per cent., and for 1901 60.6 per cent. The proportion of fine wools decreased fron-. 24.90 pei cent, in 1906 to 23.50 in the ! year under review, though it is just about tho per cent of the year 1894-5, and considerably above the average year. The total imports of Classes 1 and 2, while over the ninety million mark, are less by 6,609,5821b than 'last year, and 42.680,6661b less than two years ago. The imports of Class 0, though higher by 10,986,7291b than the same imports of last year, are less than the amounts imported in any of the three years immediately preceding 1905-6. The exports and re-exports are 2,196,1111b less than last year, and 765,6041b less than the average since 1899-1900. The following table shows the total supplies for the five-year periods, 1888-1892, IB9i-1897, 1898-1902, t.he ten years 1893-190<i, and the five-year period, 1903-1907 : — WOOL SUPPLY, 1888-1907.

Fiscal year. IS9O-91 .. 1891-92 1892-93 . . 1893-94 . . 1894-95 . . 1895-96 . . 1896-97 1897-98 . . 189S-99 . . 1899-1900 1300-01 . . 1901-02 . . 1902-03 . . 1903-04 . . 1904-05 L 905-06 .. L 906-07 .. Merinos Class 3 Total and Carpet imports crossbreds. wools. Pounds Pounds. . Pounds. 129 303 648 36,783,501 89,882,024 148 670,652 53,350,167 93,312.922 172,433 838 46 189.082 122,026,119 55,152,585 7.167,380 42,007,798 206 081 890 98,388,318 105,402,507 230 911.473 126,966.382 97,918,882 350,852 026 235,282,735 112,141,457 132 795 302 47,480,033 82,810,437 76 736 209 3,349,870 60,947,423 155,918,455 44,680,424 105,525,783 103,583.505 32,865,844 67,227,159 166,576.966 69.315,286 93,842,199 177,137,796 54,747,533 119,397,268 173.742.534 55,999,545 114,880,236 249,135,746 134.407,321 112,292,726 201.588,668 98,336,137 97,902,153 203,847,545 91,726,665 108,888,982

Fiscal years ending All wools. Fine wools. June 30 Pounds. Pounds. 1888-1892 .. 2,122,407,842 1.656 818,840 Annual average .. 424.481,568 337,363.768 1893-1897 . 2 549,920,592 2,070 423,829 Annual average .. 509,984.118 414,084 766 1898-1902 .. .. 1,988,771,621 1,582,374,037 Annual average .. 397,755,324 316 474,907 1893-1902 .. .. 4,538,213,692 3,652 798.366 Annual average .. 453,869.221 366.279.837 1903-1907 .. .. 2,476,984,249 1,925,618 882 Annual averase .. 495,396,850 385,123.776