A SWITCH in fashion styles in China has reduced demand for New Zealands's longer-fibre crossbred wools, generally found on its Romney cross sheep, to finer, Merino-type fleeces.
New Zealand wool services chief executive, John Dawson, said: "As incomes in China rise, buyers are becoming more discerning."
Longer wools, from 75mm to 125mm and over, are the most affected. China's Nanjing wool market fair will be held in the next couple of weeks, and the NZ industry will be looking to this to work out if these changes are long-term, and structural, or due to temporary changes in market demand.
In international markets, NZ Merino wool continues to sell well, as premier markets expand and demand for coarser crossbred wool for carpet manufacturing remains steady: "We continue to trade carpet wools volumes into China and the US, while Europe and Australia are positive,'' Mr Dawson continued.
Nonetheless, the NZ report also highlighted a mild inventory build-up. NZ wool exports fell a substantial 13% to 103,000 tonnes (clean) in 2015-16, but overall production is expected to have dropped by only 3.5% year-on-year. Wool production is expected to drop a further 2.8% to 145,000 tonnes this season, as sheep numbers continue to fall.
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