Otago Daily Times

Demand for wool up after disruption

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WELLINGTON: After suffering a serious slump, the wool industry has nearly managed to claw back prices to preCovid19 levels.

The disruption to the supply chain caused by Covid19 had resulted in significan­tly reduced demand from overseas mills.

PGG Wrightson general manager for wool Grant Edwards said during lockdown the industry experience­d a 35% to 40% drop in prices for all types.

In the past few weeks, there had been a notable recovery and much of those losses had been clawed back,

Mr Edwards said.

‘‘[We’re] close to being on par to where we were preCovid.

‘‘Some halfbred wool types would certainly be back at preCovid levels, where as crossbreds would be very close and merinos are closing in.’’

He said while it was encouragin­g to see those rises, at this time of year there was no significan­t crossbred wool on the market.

‘‘A degree of that [rise] is supply and demand driven,’’ he said.

AgriHQ said October wool sales were positive in the North and South Island, which was achieved by enthusiast­ic bidding and the shortage of wool on the market.

Over three sales in Napier, the strong wool indicator rose by 46 cents/kg, after lifting by progressiv­ely larger increments each sale.

South Island sales also brought price increases in October, and a buoyant market increased the strong wool indicator by 32 cents/kg.

Merino wool showed a price improvemen­t too.

The second sale of October had 16micron fleeces trading for $21.20/kg and 18micron fleeces trading for $17.60/kg. — RNZ

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