Wool Hits $5.60kg Clean at Napier Sale

Wool Hits $5.60kg Clean at Napier Sale—Sheep Are Back in Business Wool Brokers Say

Sheep are coming back into their own as a mainstay of the rural New Zealand economy with latest record wool prices in Napier netting $20 a ewe after shearing costs are deducted, say North Island woolbrokers.

The country is now short of sheep and New Zealand could absorb another 10 million breeding ewes into the national flock. Wool prices are adding new found confidence to the sheep industry in general with flow-on effects for the rural economy generally, said Philippa Wright, president of the New Zealand Woolbrokers Association.

Top quality strong wool fleeces reached $5.60kg clean at the Napier sale last week and woolbrokers are predicting a new cycle of sustainable prices for three to five years or longer. They say wool could go higher over the next few weeks as demand outstrips supply in the final sales of the main season.

This compares to the low point of the global financial crisis in late 2009, when some woolgrowers got less than $2 a kg for their wool. Globally commercial building operators and homeowners stopped buying woollen carpets. The production cycle slowed down and the knock-on effect meant demand for raw wool almost petered out, she said.

“Now they have used up everything in the wool pipeline, they are back in the market as the world economies improve and consumers have started buying again. The prices have also been helped along with a global promotions push to restore demand consumer confidence, through a united effort by most of the New Zealand wool industry.

“It’s been a big turnaround. Prices jumped by 60 cents a kg compared to the previous week with the auction setting new benchmark levels for the rest of the industry to follow. Wool sold through Napier edged above prices achieved in Christchurch on the same day,” Ms Wright said.

“Sustainable and more environmentally friendly than dairy cows, the day of the sheep is about to come again. With the poor lambing percentages this season because of the spring storms, there is a shortage of stock and good breeding ewes are fetching up to $150 each at the sale yards,” she said.

Ms Wright said the Wool Partners Co-operative attempt to raise $65 million and lock up more than 50 percent of the strong wool clip for five years, had led to an increase in new business for her and her members. It has also encouraged members to communicate more regularly and comprehensively with their woolgrower clients.

“We think it’s important that farmers have freedom of choice on where and how they sell their wool and the auction remains a key part of those selling options,” she said.

Caption (no credit or payment is expected for using the attached photograph)

New Zealand could absorb 10 million more sheep say North Island woolbrokers Richard Kells and Scott McLeod, pictured checking out stock prices at the Stortford Lodge sale in Hastings recently.

ENDS

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