Australia's Wool Clip Continues to Dwindle

The Australian Wool Testing Authority (AWTA) tested only 181,000 bales of wool last month, or almost 50,000 bales less than last April. The falls were uniform across all states.

While the sharp fall was due partly to the Easter break, for the 10 months to the end of April, throughput was 9.9 percent down on a year earlier. General manager of raw wool services, Ian Ashman, said AWTA was now budgeting on a 10-percent drop for the full year.

This would mesh with the latest clip forecasts of a 355 million kilogram clip or two million bales, down 10.5 percent on the 2007-2008 clip.

AWTA is currently finalizing plans for the closure of its Sydney laboratory and subsequent transport of northern region core samples for testing in Melbourne. Ashman said samples would be dispatched to the Melbourne laboratories overnight for testing the following day.

Reprinted in part from Weekly Times Now, Australia

<< Back