Wool Market Research Articles

EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS OF SMALL-SCALE WOOL PRODUCTION IN THE FORMER TRANSKEL SOUTH AFRICA

A non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA)is used to measure the relative efficiency of wool production on farms in the former Transkei. The agricultural activities on the farms are merely non-commercial. Wool is considered as a by-product of keeping sheep, which are slaughtered on special family occasions or sold live. A sample of farmers in three villages of the former Transkei (Mhlahlane, Xume and Luzie) was interviewed. In Luziea shearing shed was built to organise the marketing of the wool, leading to a higher revenue from wool. The farmers however are not able to convert this into a positive gross margin. A small number of farms succeeds in maximising the production of wool given the relative large investment. The negative result of wool farming on the other farms is partly compensated by high benefits from the sales of live sheep. Also in Xume a shearing shed was built, and extension on production practices is provided. But no marketing of wool through the shearing shed was done at the time of the survey. The existence of a shearing shed should be essential for a higher retail price for wool and extension does have a positive influence on the benefits of the farms. However, the production practices are not adapted to the production of wool only, so that the use of inputs is too high for the generated output.

The politics and economics of wool marketing, 1950–2000

The history of marketing, research, development policies and intervention in marketing of the wool clip is reviewed from the perspective of an insider. The overall theme is that politics took over comprehensively from clear economic policy advice on wool marketing in the past 50 years and woolgrowers paid a high price for this. The idea of ‘integrated marketing’ including an export monopoly, a buffer stock scheme and coordinated promotion and R&D, collectively a strong interventionist philosophy, has waxed and waned. Having borne most of the costs of these failed policies, remaining woolgrowers can now look forward to a market less distorted by political interference.

Perspectives of the sheep meat world market on future production systems and trends

Sheep meat is the most expensive meat in developed countries. Consumption is dependent on cultural factors and will be increasing as populations and incomes grow. In the main exporting countries (New Zealand and Australia), sheep numbers are decreasing as the market for wool is declining. Sheep meat production will develop in small and medium scale commercial systems, close to their markets.

Defoe and the Black Legend: The Spanish Stereotype in "A New Voyage round the World"

On 23 July 1711, Daniel Defoe wrote a letter to his employer/savior Rob­ ert Harley in which he outlined a “Proposall for Seizing, Possessing, and forming an English Collony on The kingdome of Chili in the South Part of America” (Healey 346). In this letter, Defoe asserts that Chile is particularly suited for an English colony because it is well-adapted for “Commerce, Planting, and Inhabiting” (Healey 346). Defoe’s missive systematically sets forth the benefits of such a proposal, such as the establishment of an excellent market for English wool, while simultaneously refuting possible objections to the plan, such as the resis­ tance of the Spaniards. He maintains that the native Chileans would cooperate with the English if it secured their deliverance from the “Cruell and Tyrannic Temper of the Said spaniards” (Healey 347). Defoe’s scheme is remarkably thor­ ough, even if it failed to win Harley’s approval. Seemingly undaunted by lack of governmental support, Defoe tenaciously held fast to his idea, and we meet it again thirteen years later in his 1724 travel fiction, A New Voyage Round the World. In this text, Defoe enlarges upon his scheme in an effort to convince his English read­ ership that South America is ideal for an English colony. The few critics who have written on A New Voyage agree that Defoe fully in­ tended for this project to come to fruition. Jane Jack, for example, labels A New Voyage Defoe’s roman a these “designed to enlist the sympathy of its readers for a serious scheme of colonization and commerce” (75). Much more recently, Robert Markley ascribed the novel’s purpose to “firing the imagination of his English read­ ers to explore and exploit the lands that the novel describes” (159). This travel fiction, then, moves beyond the mere entertainment or educational purpose its contemporaries boasted (Richetti 60-61), and positions itself as thinly-disguised colonial propaganda. In order for this propaganda to succeed, however, Defoe must illustrate to his English readers that the Coasta Deserta region, extending from Buenos Aires to

A DISEQUILIBRIUM ECONOMETRIC MODEL OF THE AUSTRALIAN RAW WOOL MARKET*

This paper develops a quarterly disequilibrium model of the Australian wool market. It is postulated that because of inherent market imperfections the market does not clear. The model consists of demand and supply equations for both private and government traders, a minimum condition to determine quantity transacted and a price adjustment equation based on excess demand/supply. Effective demand/supply concepts which recognise the expectation of rationing are employed to model private demand/supply. Supplier price expectations explicitly account for the lower bound imposed by the minimum reserve price scheme (RPS). The estimates suggest that the disequilibrium hypothesis cannot be rejected, as a consequence measures of market imbalance are provided. The model is also used to simulate the effects of the removal of the RPS.

South African Wool Marketing

As in many countries, the marketing of agricultural products in South Africa is one characterised by a complex pattern of regulations and institutional intervention. Since the 1930s the marketing of South African wool has passed through a full range of alternative structures. Originally wool was marketed in South Africa through a free market system of private sales and auctions. During World War II and the years 1972-93 full acquisition schemes operated, and also buffer stock (surplus removal) schemes in the years 1946-51 and 1958-72. After the suspension of the single channel pool scheme in June 1993 the marketing of wool in South Africa reverted to a structure of auctions and private sales. In practice the marketing of wool has finally reverted to close to its original form, as did the South African Wool Board which gave up its marketing functions and today concentrates on the promotion of wool and conduct of scientific and economic research.

Chinese wool auctions: Failed agribusiness reform or future marketing channel?

The spectacular though short-lived operation of China's wool auctions graphically illustrates problems in reforming China's agribusiness sector. A selective coverage of product type and participants, a highly contrived process of price discovery, and an urgent need for parallel reform in related areas all led to the demise of the auctions and are a barrier to their re-emergence as a viable wool marketing channel. Despite the challenges facing wool auctions, this paper argues that they still have much to offer the marketing of wool in China.

The effect of buyer concentration on prices in the Australian wool market

A theoretical model of the wool market that distinguishes between large and small buyers is developed. The model forecasts that “large” buyers with a cost advantage will increase grower prices providing there is competition from a periphery of small, relatively high cost buyers. Econometric estimates of premiums associated with buyer concentration, as measured by the Herfindahl Index, are obtained using hedonic price analysis. The results are consistent with theory, and it is concluded that increased buyer concentration favors growers providing a “periphery” of small competitive firms remains intact. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The Wool Debt, the Wool Stockpile and the National Interest: Did the Garnaut Committee Get it Right?*

In July 1993 the Wool Industry Review (Garnaut) Committee presented its recommendations on disposal of the wool stockpile, on wool marketing, and on organizational arrangements in the wool industry. This paper focuses on the Report's treatment of two issues central to the future economic benefits to Australia from wool: the approach to the industry's stockpile‐related debt, and disposal of the stockpile. There are strong grounds for thinking that the Garnaut Committee's recommendations on these issues– accepted by the government–are contrary to the best interests of the wool industry and Australia.

The Development and Role of Objective Measurement in the Marketing of Australian Wool

Objective measurement has been an integral component of the Australian wool-selling system since the introduction of Sale-by-Sample and presale testing in 1972. Today, virtually all wool is tested for yield, vegetable matter and mean fibre diameter; 72% of all combing wool is tested for staple length and staple strength; and 23% is measured for average yellowness. A commercial service for diameter variation was introduced in 1996. The remaining parameters likely to be specified are those which will improve the prediction of processing performance and/or provide a more complete objective specification of greasy wool prior to sale. Electronic access to information stored in the presale test data base provides buyers with on-line up-to-date intelligence regarding wool due for sale and has facilitated the development of electronic selling systems.

Changing Strategies for the Marketing of New Zealand Wool

Since 1937, the New Zealand Wool Board (NZWB) has been a member of, and a financial contributor to, the International Wool Secretariat (IWS), where New Zealand wool has been promoted internationally under the generic Woolmark since its inception in 1964. Over the last 30 years, however, there have been significant changes in the global textile industry and consumer preferences, as well as the market for New Zealand wool, prompting the NZWB to separate from the IWS and embark on a New Zealand-focused branding strategy under its own global brand – the Fernmark. This paper will examine the way in which the NZWB has adapted its marketing strategies in response to a changing global operating environment and its desire to maximise the effectiveness of its marketing efforts for the benefit of the New Zealand wool grower.

The prevalence of lice (Bovicola ovis) infested sheep flocks in Western Australia (1987–1993)

The proportion of wool bale brands with a positive test for sheep lice in baled wool decreased from 29.5% in 1987/88 to 23.2% in 1990/91 before increasing to 38.2% in 1992/93. Changes in the proportion of wool bale brands with a positive test for lice were highly correlated with changes in the Wool Market Price Indicator. The increase in the proportion of positive lice tests since 1990/91 was associated with an increase in failures to eradicate lice from flocks. These failures were partly a consequence of the reduced use of lousicidal treatments, the development of resistance to synthetic pyrethroid chemicals and an increase in the transmission of lice between flocks.

British pastoral companies and the Australian wool industry during the great depression

Abstract In the 1930s Australian wool marketing was dominated by six large pastoral companies, two of them largely local owned and the remainder being British based. Apart from their marketing role the companies were major sources of credit and suppliers of farm requisites and machinery for woolgrowers. The article examines the behaviour of pastoral companies when faced with the financial stress of the great depression. The main conclusion of the analysis is that a rural mythology, which portrayed them as exploiters of vulnerable woolgrowers, fails to recognize the true nature of their behaviour and the constraints in which they operated.

A model to estimate the economic value of using individual fleece fibre diameter measurements to class wool

Woolclassing in Australia traditionally relies upon a subjective visual appraisal of fleeces. A new approach to woolclassing, termed objective classing, has been adopted by some woolgrowers. In objective classing, fine and broad lines of wool are created using pre-measured individual fibre diameter data, rather than the subjective appraisal of the classer. This paper describes a computer model that estimates the clip preparation that maximises net return, and the expected economic value of objective classing. The effect of mean and standard deviations of fibre diameter, test precision, wool market conditions, and clip preparation on expected economic value was examined. Results indicated that objective classing was not of universal benefit. The value of objective classing was greatest for fine wool, particularly if sold when there was a large premium for fine wool and a high market indicator. The economic value of objective classing rapidly reduced if the standard deviation of the fibre diameter test fell below 0·5 μm, or if the clip was sub-optimally prepared. In many circumstances objective classing was not economically justifiable, unless the fibre diameter measurements were used for other purposes, such as a genetic improvement programme.

ESTIMATING SOURCES OF FLUCTUATIONS IN THE AUSTRALIAN WOOL MARKET: AN APPLICATION OF VAR METHODS

Vector autoregression (VAR) methods are used to analyse the contribution of supply, demand and policy shocks to unpredictable fluctuations in the market for Australian wool. VAR procedures are compared with conventional structural econometric models as methods for decomposing sources of instability. While each has advantages and disadvantages, VAR procedures might be viewed as preferable when the underlying market structure is complex and uncertain, as it is in the case of wool. Based on the results obtained, demand shocks are the dominant source of uncertainty in the wool market in the absence of Australian Wool Corporation intervention, but intervention has blunted their effects, reducing market uncertainty and increasing the average level of prices and revenues.

The forecasting approach to efficiency in the wool market

This paper develops and presents estimates of a simultaneous equations model of the Australian wool market, the world's largest producer and exporter of fine wool. The model contains functional relationships for unhedged inventories, consumption of raw wool, and the activities of both hedgers and speculators in wool futures. Expectations are represented by the adaptive hypothesis. This model extends the work of Leuthold and Hartmann (1979) and Leuthold and Garcia (1988) by including expectations in the spot-futures model, and that of Goss and Giles (1986) by including composite equations for hedger-speculators, extending the expectations hypothesis to the consumption equation, and by using the model to test the efficient markets hypothesis. Wald tests and likelihood ratio tests for unit roots in wool cash prices are conducted and in no case can the hypothesis of a single unit root be rejected. Estimation is by three stage least squares, with correction for first order serial correlation. The model provide...

Carpet manufactures of Iran in the nineteenth century

Carpet and shawl have been woven in Iran from time immemorial by nomads, villagers and townsmen. Although both were exported to Europe since the sixteenth century, it was only in the latter part of the nineteenth century that trade and exports of carpets and shawls, especially the former, assumed increasing significance for Iran1. Increased demand from capitalist Europe and the United States combined with a desparate search for a high value exportable product by merchant capital would go some way in explaining the considerable expansion of both items and export of carpets from Iran. This combination led to the appearance of carpet workshops of the manufactory type towards the end of the nineteenth century. In the case of carpets, these were woven in many villages as well as in some large cities, such as Mashhad and Kerman, and later in Tabriz. At the same time, their weaving was very common among the nomads and semi-nomads too. It can be safely stated that only for the weavers in the cities, carpet making had a more or less stable nature and offered them permanent employment and regular income. For the other two groups of weavers, it had the general characteristics of casual employment as the vast majority of them lived in 'small isolated villages', and as one observer noted, 'having also household duties'.2 Yet it is true, however, that even after the establishment of large workshops in Tabriz and Sultanabad, the greater proportion of carpets were produced by villagers and nomads. Whether in the cities or in the tents of the wondering tribes, or for that matter in the simple houses of villagers in small isolated villages around the country, the techniques of production were the same. Being exclusively labour-intensive, carpets and shawls were usually entirely by hand. The bulk of the yarn was hand spun, and all the weaving and knotting done by means of simple traditional hand-looms. It has been estimated that a high-quality carpet would normally require three to four weavers working every day of the week for anything between one to two years.3 It can be argued, therefore, that the making of carpets and shawls generated considerable casual employment and probably income for the rural inhabitants of Iran. In the case of the nomads, they also benefited from the flourishing market for raw wool, the production of which was almost entirely monopolized by them. The cities were affected too, as few large workshops which came into existence in the latter part of the century were all located in towns and cities. Nevertheless, evidence as to the actual position of carpet weaving in the rural economy, in terms of income or employment, is slight, a few examples will be useful to give some idea of the situation. In the district of Hamadan, as Rabino noted at the turn of the twentieth century, 'many carpets are woven but none was made in the vicinity of

Implications of China's Foreign Exchange System for the Wool Market

Implications of China's Foreign Exchange System for the Wool Market

The CSIRO Automatic Tester for Length and Strength (ATLAS)

Use of the CSIRO Automatic Tester for Length and Strength (ATLAS) for the characterization of greasy-wool staples enabled sale with additional measurement to be introduced into the marketing of Australian wool at the beginning of 1985. Three instruments produced by CSIRO have been installed in the Sydney laboratory of AWTA Ltd to perform commercial testing together with the first unit made by an instrument manufacturer. Further instruments are being manufactured. The instrument accepts up to 70 staples on its feed belt and delivers them one by one to the length-measuring section. Each staple is then conveyed past a bank of photocells, where its length is assessed as the distance travelled by the staple while the light to the photocells is interrupted. The staple is next picked up by a pair of belts and is fed to a set of jaws in the strength section, where it is gripped A each end and stretched until it breaks while the applied force is measured. The broken pieces are blown down to two balances, where the...

Botanical Composition and Nutritional Quality of Alpaca Diets in Two Andean Rangeland Communities

Our objectives were to measure alpaca (Lamapacos) diet quality and botanical composition seasonally on 2 high elevation rangesites (bofedal and Altiplano) in the Andes Mountains of Peru. The bofedal site was a perennially green sedge and forb community located at 5,000 m elevation. The Altiplano site, located at 3,190 m, was predominately bunchgrass. We collected diets from freeranging, esophageally fistulated alpacas at each site. Alpaca diets at both sites were highest in grasses during the wet and early dry season. As the dry season progressed, bofedal alpaca diets were comprised largely of sedges and reeds (78%) while Altiplano diets remained predominantly grasses (68%). Forb consumption varied annually between 8 and 29%o of the diet on both sites. Crude protein (CP) in bofedal diets (12.3%) averaged higher than on the Altiplano (10.2%). Values were lowest during August (6.1%) on the Altiplano and in July (8.0%Io) on the bofedal. In vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) of alpaca diets on the bofedal (63%) was similar to the Altiplano site (64%) when averaged for all seasons. IVOMD was lowest during August (49%) at the Altiplano site and in October (50%0) on the bofedal. Low dietary CP and IVOMD during the late dry season (Aug.-Oct.) denote this period as nutritionally critical for both sites. Alpacas are important fiberand meat-producing livestock for highland inhabitants of the Andes mountains of southern Peru and northern Bolivia (Reiner and Bryant 1983). Approximately 2.5 million alpacas graze high-elevation grassland in Peru and Bolivia (Fernandez Baca 1975). Alpacas are physiologically adapted for life at high elevation and are able to graze much of the Andean range where sheep and cattle production is unprofitable. Alpaca grazing sites are primarily chosen in response to forage availability and tradition. Range management in the form of grazing systems or diet supplementation is rare. Little is known about nutritional quality and botanical composition of alpaca diets on the varied range sites they graze. Implementing effective grazing systems or diet supplementation schemes requires this knowledge. We describe the botanical composition and nutritional quality of alpaca diets relative to seasonal forage availability for 2 important rangeland sites (bofedal and Altiplano) in southern Peru. High-elevation rangeland in southern Peru is characterized by 2 major grassland zones: the Altiplano (high plains) of the Lake Titicaca basin (3,100 m elevation) and the mountains surrounding the basin. Mountain rangeland occasionally exceeds 5,800 m. The Altiplano is primarily a zone of sheep production although alpaca numbers are increasing due to a favorable market for alpaca wool. The mountain zone is grazed primarily by alpacas. The wet growing season occurs in November through April in southern Peru. During the rest of the year, there is no precipitation and little forage production. Alpacas grazing in the mountains during the dry season are herded to perennially green, tundra-like Authors are research assistant, Mississippi State University, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, P.O. Drawer LW, Mississippi State 39762 and associate professor, Department of Range and Wildlife Management, Texas Tech University, Lubbock 79409. This research was carried out as part of the United States Agency for International Development, Title XII, Small Ruminant Collaborative Research Support Program, under Grant DSAN/ XII-G-0049, in collaboration with Instituto Nacional Investigacion y Promocion Agropecuaria, Peru. This is Texas Tech University College of Agricultural Science Publication No. T-9-000. The authors wish to thank Susan Rikert and Timoteo Huisa for laboratory and field assistance. We also thank Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos for their support. Manuscript accepted 27 January 1986. pastures called bofedales. Bofedales are scarce on the Altiplano and are often over-grazed. Physiological differences between alpaca and sheep preclude adapting established sheep management techniques for alpaca. For example, the gestation period for alpacas is almost 1 year (345 days). Females are bred and give birth during January when nutritious forage is available. Alpacas survive the nutritionally stressful dry season while in the late stages of lactation and supporting gestation (Sumar 1983). Weight loss, impaired wool production, and low fertility have been attributed to inadequate dry season nutrition (West 1981).