Top wool advocate bales out
The conversion of productive farmland into trees has pretty much annihilated the wool industry.
The 5100 bales of South Island wools on offer this week through the Wool Services International auction saw strong competition and a 90.5% clearance.
The weaker NZ dollar compared to last sale on October 29 aided local prices, with the weighted currency indicator down 1.43%, says WSI marketing executive, Malcolm Ching.
Ching says the less stylish merino fleece compared to the last time offered on October 22 saw the 19.5 micron and finer wools up to 6% cheaper with 20 to 23.5 microns up to 3% firmer.
Mid micron fleece 24 to 26 microns was 1 to 4% dearer with 27 to 29.5 microns strongly contested, lifting 8%.
Compared to the North Island sale on October 29, fine crossbred fleece 32 to 35 microns was 3 to 6% dearer with shear types 1.5 to 5% dearer. Coarse full fleece was 4 to 5% stronger with 3 to 5 and 3 to 4 inch shears 1.5 to 3% firmer. Shorter types eased by 1.5%. Long oddments were 4 to 6% dearer with shorter types 1 to 5% dearer.
There was good competition with China and Western Europe supporting the fine wool sector, China dominating the fine crossbreds and Australasia strongly supporting the coarse wools. Limited support came from Western Europe, Middle East and India.
The next sale on November 12 comprises about 5100 bales from the North Island.
OPINION: Wool farmers believe the future of strong wool still holds promise.
Applications are open for Horticulture New Zealand's (HortNZ) 2026 scholarship programme, with 20 funding opportunities available.
OPINION: Farmers are being asked to celebrate a target that changes nothing for the climate, wastes taxpayer money, and ignores real science.
A move is underway to make the Wellington bureaucracy speed up the approval process for certain agrichemicals that farmers and growers are desperate to get their hands on.
The new majority owner of meat company Alliance has no plans to close any processing plants. Instead, Dawn Meats plans to extract more value from Alliance's existing footprint.
Westpac NZ has announced new initiatives that aim to give customers more options to do their banking in person.

OPINION: The Greens have taken the high moral ground on the Palestine issue and been leading political agitators in related…
One of the most galling aspects of the tariffs whacked on our farm exports to the US is the fact…