THE WOOL SITUATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 May 1922, Page 4

THE WOOL SITUATION.

AN ENCOURAGING REPOTT. PRODUCTION AND VALUES. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. A special report on the Dominion, wool-selling season, now practically closed, has been made to the Minister for Agriculture by the New Zealand Wool Committee. * The period covered is from October, 1921. to March 31, 19122. The committee records a gradual rise in prices -for all classes of wool during the past six months, together with a satisfactory clearance of stocks. The prices for medium and low crossbred wools are described as still “below the cost of production, but there is a keen demand for all classes of wool, and the rapidity with which the same have gone into consumption during the period under review, justifies the strong belief that the producers can safely look forward to a return to payable • prices in the very near future.” After a careful study of all the information at its disposal, the committee holds a strong opinion that a cuutinned rise in the prices of New Zealand wools is to he anticipated; that the dark cloud which has been overhanging the growers of crossbred wool, particularly for the last eighteen months, will be soon removed. i In support of its sanguine view oL/J the wool situation, the committee . nishes a complete table of the product tion of wool, computed on a greasy basis, showing the wool output ol every country in the world. The average annual production for 1909 to 1913 of the world was 3,151,888,470 pounds; for 1921 it was 2,608,445.505 pounds, or a shortage of about 5434 million pounds. Countries competitive with New Zealand in wool-grow-ing showed an average annual production in the pre-war period (1909-1913) of 5,883,498 bales. This has been reduced in 1921 to 4,676,707 bales, oi? roughly over one million bales.