PRICES WERE BETTER THAN IN JANUARY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 47, 25 February 1939, Page 10

PRICES WERE BETTER THAN IN JANUARY

NEARLY ALL LINES DEARER MEDIUM CROSSBREDS ADVANCE BY ONE TO THREE FARTHINGS BRADFORD. GERMANY AND FRANCE BID PROMINENTLY A full bench of buyers operated at the second Wanganui wool sale of the current, season at. the Opera House yesterday. A limit of 24,700 bales was offered. Prices exceeded expectations and practically the whole, of the offering was sold. The market was firmer than at the January sale. Sale Goes With a Swing-‘'Ninety-eight per cent, of the catalogue was sold in an animated sale that went with a swing from start to finish,” states the official report of the Wanganui Woolbrokers’ Association. "The wool was submitted to a fully representative bench of buyers. Every section of the trade operated freely, Bradford and German buyers being predominant, with France lendinggood support. America and Japan were also represented. "Prices were fully up to recent sales in other centres. On the last Wanganui sale, tine and super crossbred wools were in sellers’ favour, medium and inferior qualities were one farthing io three, farthings better, and in some eases more. Pieces, bellies and locks were a halfpenny better and crutchings firm to halfpenny belter. Lambs wool was three farthings to on - penny up on the previous Wanganui sale.” Germans Met Competition Herman buyers found competition for the types of wool they were seeking keener than they anticipated, and in some cases they were not able to till their requirements. At the January sale the Continent dominated the market, but on this occasion the bidding was more widely spread, France being in the market for lambs wool, the competition for which was much keener than anticipated. There was a contrast, too, in the bidding at this sale compared with that at the January auction, in that prices appreciated by as much as lid after the first bid. whereas in January the bidding was on very rigid limits and it was a case of who caught the auctioneer’s eye first rather than a matter of running up the initial bid. The condition of the wool was such as could be expected for a February sale after a protracted shearing season. Much of it showed seed, particularly the lambs wool, but even the seed did not deter the demand. A dryness in yolk was noticeable in some of the fleece wool, but, on the whole, the catalogue opened up much better than expected. It could be termed a good sale, fully in keeping with the top of the market in the Dominion this season.