Top wool advocate bales out
The conversion of productive farmland into trees has pretty much annihilated the wool industry.
The limited offering of 4200 bales from the South Island on offer this week saw a 58% clearance and a generally firmer market, New Zealand Wool Services International Ltd's general manager, John Dawson reports.
The weighted indicator for the main trading currencies increased by 0.42%.
Dawson advises a small selection of Mid Micron wools followed other market trends and eased between 4 to 6%.
Fine crossbred fleece and shears were firm to sellers favour.
Coarse crossbred fleece were firm to 1.5% dearer. Coarse early shorn were firm with longer shears firm to 1.5% stronger and shorter shears firm to 3% dearer.
First lambs and long crossbred oddments remained firm with short oddments generally in buyers' favour.
There was limited activity with many growers reluctant to sell at current levels. Main competition came from China, India and Western Europe, supported by Middle East and Australasia.
The next sale on August 16 comprises about 7500 bales from the North Island and 6300 bales from the South Island.
Federated Farmers says it is cautiously welcoming signals from the Government that a major shake-up of local government is on its way.
Ashburton cropping and dairy farmer Matthew Paton has been elected to the board of rural services company, Ruralco.
The global agricultural landscape has entered a new phase where geopolitics – not only traditional market forces – will dictate agricultural trade flows, prices, and production decisions.
National Lamb Day is set to return in 2026 with organisers saying the celebrations will be bigger than ever.
Fonterra has dropped its forecast milk price mid-point by 50c as a surge in global milk production is putting downward pressure on commodity prices.
The chance of a $10-plus milk price for this season appears to be depleting.

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