LIVESTOCK
CANTERBURY FARMING
April 2017
39
Wool Perspective
From Rob Cochrane GM, Procurement, PGG Wrightson Wool
More returns for your wool.
Otherwise fine! I had just walked out of the Christchurch wool auction room after a reasonably firm wool sale (compared to the previous one) and fielded a telephone call from a wool rep asking about the market and, in particular, how one of his clients’ lines of wool had sold that morning.
Carrfields Primary Wool (CP Wool) is a 50/50 joint venture between Carrfields and Primary Wool Co-operative (PWC), a 100% wool grower owned co-operative. • CP Wool has stores in key locations across NZ • CP Wool offers significant benefits and advantages to New Zealand wool producers Talk to your local CP Wool representative about maximising the returns on your wool clip.
Contact your Canterbury representative Mark Greenlaw 027 227 8898 Roger Fuller 027 683 6993
Grant Andrew 027 481 6219 Gavin Crump 027 431 6555 www.cpwool.co.nz
The Working Wool Buyer
NO commission! NO transport costs! NO guess work!
Typically, this call came when the specific line of wool, which was not the best for quality, had been passedin for failing to reach our pre-sale estimate and the grower’s reserve price! After the rep’s obvious sigh of dismay, due to the wool having not been sold (he was probably standing beside the client at the time!), I consoled him by offering very sound reasoning that there were several other wool grower vendors with similar (to his client) types, who also had their wool passed-in, and then added the words ‘otherwise fine’ meaning that most other wool types sold OK. That’s when I thought of the DD Smash song entitled Otherwise Fine and suddenly
could hear a line saying something about ‘the outlook for Thursday’. Almost every wool auction in New Zealand is held on a Thursday, which lead me to the next line of the song which says ‘your guess as good as mine!’ Then I began thinking of how confused many growers might be when they have wool ready for sale and seek advice from brokers or others, and receive what may seem a rather blurred answer covering exchange rates, wool quality and quantities, etc. Over the past few seasons, PGG Wrightson Wool (PGW) and Bloch & Behrens (PGW’s wholly-owned subsidiary and wool exporter) have been developing new relationships
with overseas customers, many of whom manufacture finished products, and part of that business development has been to invite key personnel, from those customers, to New Zealand, to visit wool growers who supply wool to PGW, providing clarity of value to growers, creating brand partnerships and assisting sustainability. During March two manufacturing companies from Germany and Norway each brought their CEO and Production Manager to New Zealand, and were hosted by B&B and PGW staff, along with a number of onfarm visits. A gathering of Marlborough merino wool growers recently attended a presentation at
Blairich Station from the CEO and Production Manager of Norwegian company, Devold, and heard how that company has been producing garments since 1853, how Devold has developed into an extremely well-recognised manufacturer of merino (and other wools) underwear, sports and leisure garments, and how the Devold brand now appears in high-end retail stores across Europe. Devold is sourcing quality merino wool by contract via PGW from several growers in the South Island for the second year running this year, and is looking forward to further developing longterm relationships with new suppliers of fine wool to PGW. That’s my view.
Ring Kevin and he will turn up with the truck and certified scales. From mainline to dags see if you can find any wool buyer who will go further or work harder for your wool.
Phone Kevin today and get the best out of your wool.
PH 0274 396 848 or 03 312 9059
NICK’S PET FOOD LTD Valued Marketers of All Wool Types Contact a PGG Wrightson Wool representative today: Doug McKay
Ph: 027 432 6910
Peter McCusker Rob Lynskey Ph: 027 432 4926
Freephone 0800 946 000
Ph: 027 591 8454
Ange Armstrong Ph: 027 436 2603
Helping grow the country
For all your unwanted animals, cattle, sheep, calves, horses
Phone Nick Mobile: 027 210 1621 Factory Shop - Ph: 03 348 9439 15 Michelle Road, Wigram, Christchurch, 8042