Woolgrowers visit China

Wimmera graziers have been among Australian woolgrowers to gain first-hand insight into the Chinese wool industry during an Australian Wool Innovation trip to China.

Self-funding their trip, woolgrowers from every state toured and met officials from key vertical mills such as Nanshan and Sunshine, key processors such as Tianyu and knitting facilities such as the Xinao-woolmark Knitwear Development Centre.

In Shanghai, Nanjing and Hong Kong growers met with Awi-woolmark staff as well as retailers and designers who all work to sell wool in this market.

Australia exports almost 80 percent of raw wool to China for early-stage processing.

Half of this wool is consumed in China at a retail level, making the Chinese wool processing and retail economy critically important to Australia’s $3-billion wool industry.

Daniel Rogers from Balmoral said the tour gave him a greater understanding of the passion and expertise involved with taking wool from its raw state through to a beautiful garment at retail.

“It was an amazing experience to see the enormous investment the Chinese industry has made in wool and their love of Australian merino wool,” he said.

“It really has given me a lot of confidence in the future of the industry. To see so many Chinese designers, retailers and brands wanting to use the product we produce was really good. The future looks bright.”

The touring party included: Victoria, Warren Russell, Daniel Rogers, Sue and Rod Miller, Cameron Mibus; South Australia, Syd Lawrie, Tom Davidson; Western Australia, Todd Mullan, Mitchell Hogg; New South Wales, Ed Morgan, Alex Willson, Ian Cameron; Tasmania, Anna Cotton.