Setting the record straight

Setting the record straight

The managing director of the national farmer-owned wool procurement and marketing company, Primary Wool Cooperative Ltd, is concerned at recent media reports stating that Wrightson is "effectively the only national wool handler" in New Zealand.

The statement was originally made in a report published in The Press in Christchurch regarding Pyne Gould Guiness winning the New Zealand Merino logistics contract, and had been repeated by many other newspapers.

Mr Murray says contrary to that report, Wrightson is not the only national wool handler.

"Primary Wool Cooperative Ltd is a national wool handler with woolstores, receiving depots and field consultants covering the length of New Zealand from Whangarei to Invercargill," he says.

"In fact, Primary Wool is handling more than 140,000 bales of wool a year making it the second largest procurer of wool in New Zealand, it is the largest wool cooperative by a significant margin, and is owned by wool growers situated throughout the North and South Islands."

While Primary Wool continues to significantly increase its share of the market, Wrightson is known to be loosing market share in many parts of the agriculture sector.

Mr Murray is extremely disappointed at the inaccurate report.

"As a recently established farmer-owned national wool company, we have gone out of our way to communicate our message to the farming media and to make the facts about the company and its role in the industry known to agricultural journalists," he says. "So, it is very disappointing when such misleading statements are published."

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