Wool market slow to bounce back

PGG Wrightson's GM for Wool Grant Edwards. Photo / Supplied

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This week The Country's Jamie Mackay is joined by PGG Wrightson's GM for wool, Grant Edwards to look at how the wool market is faring this month, post New Zealand's Covid-19 lockdown.

Mackay said the wool market was in real trouble as it was down 25 per cent from where it was in late February and early March. Two recent auctions saw full length crossbred fleece least affected and strong lamb's wool suffering the most, taking a 35-40 per cent hit.

New Zealand was not alone, as Australian wool prices had also taken a hit and fine wool prices had halved since September 2019, said Mackay.

For some historic perspective Mackay spoke of 1968 where he would get NZD $5 at auction for strong wool, and that same wool today was estimated to get NZD $1.70 a kilo.

Listen below:

Edwards talked about how Covid-19 had impacted the supply chain as New Zealand wool ends up in end-garments, carpets and upholstery throughout Europe and USA and key end-user markets, which had been shut down and were only now starting to open again.

Edwards believed there would be a bounce-back after Covid-19 and when trade started to resume. It was going to come down to timing of when and where.

Edwards was convinced that the long term outcome for wool was very positive because of wool's sustainability and environmentally friendly properties, especially with the younger generation being more conscious of their product consumption and usage.

For more Information on New Zealand's Covid19 response and Alert Levels please visit covid19.govt.nz/