Farren: ‘Co-op is the best defender of wool sector’
With the shearing season almost completed, the chief executive of British Wool, Joe Farren has this week stressed the positive effect the company has on the market. “Put simply if we were not around (wool) prices would plummet.”
British Woo lisa farming co-operative owned by about 40,000 producers across the country. The vast majority of the sheep farmers in mainland Britain sell their wool to the organisation but over the past two decades there has been a leakage of a small percentage of the total clip to Ireland.
F arr en stressed there was now a distinct change in the competitive dynamics. “The ‘direct from farm’ Irish competition is now owned by the two largest downstream processors in the UK who actually buy from our auctions at Bradford .” According to Farren, prices across the Irish Sea are typically 50 per cent lower than those we return to producers on mainland Britain.
“A severe drop in wool prices in the UK would inevitably see the rates paid to shearing contractors come under pressure and drop significantly as a result.
“British Wool is the only company in the UK which will take any type of wool therefore a significant number of producers would struggle to even find a buyer for their wool.
“This means more wool disposed of at landfill as it would be considered a waste product under existing environmental legislation.
“British Wool will con - tinue to offer consistently better returns than the competition.
“This price premium will increase over the coming years as our consumer marketing strategy matures and we increase our Chinese customer base through our Shanghai Office.”
andrew@andrewarbuckle.org