Italian Wool Industry Starting to Revive

Family-owned Italian woolen mills have begun to expand to meet improved demand in the United States. Helen Cathles, of the Australian Superfine Woolgrowers Association, is visiting mills in the United Kingdom, Turkey and Italy and reports that all are more buoyed by rising economic conditions.

She says that in Italy, the mills that remain are pleased to have held out against shifting processing to China.

"They are very proud of it and I think when you look at how tight their businesses are run now, and some have even expanded, they've refocused," she says. "I think it looks really promising because those that are in the business, they're amazingly positive."

Reprinted from ABC Rural, AU