China<\/a> is emerging as the key to move the New Zealand strong wool sector away from trading wool as a commodity, but first the sector must adjust to market signals, sector leaders say. \u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cIndustry needs to look at the current situation and take it as an opportunity to get higher sustainable prices for the long term.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want rapid peaks and troughs; we want steady pricing in the markets where we are meeting what the market demands,\u201d Wool Impact chief executive Andy Caughey said. He was part of the NZ wool contingent that attended the Nanjing Wool Congress in China. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a grower\u2019s perspective the current upward-trending pricing is encouraging, but it\u2019s also time as a sector that we change the way we engage with the markets and, ultimately, consumers to get a better, sustainable return.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to trade based on relationships and what makes the product special over and above a commodity market.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe market can give signals and it\u2019s up to us to be responsive and I think all of these things \u2013 carbon traceability, transparency \u2013 the brands are saying that these are what they are after, so it\u2019s up to us to present to them what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are initiatives underway that will help support growers in presenting their wool to market, but it will require growers to take different steps; it\u2019s not just going to happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowers will have to adopt advanced accreditations and it also means better clip preparation, because when we\u2019ve had low prices there has been a tendency to not prepare the clip as well and if we\u2019re wanting to preserve our premium and positioning in the market, we need improved clip preparation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Chinese love NZ wool, we heard that very clearly, but we do need to acknowledge that we can improve the classing and grading.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a growing sense of awareness around indoor air pollution and the need to bring sustainable materials to buildings to address the issues around microplastics, chemicals and toxins.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a clear message around sustainability, human health and environmental impact.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an opportunity for positioning wool long term. The theme is we\u2019ve got reasons to be optimistic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the short term we are seeing a supply issue which is giving a lift now, but it\u2019s also giving us an opportunity to pivot the way that we work and engage with the brands so that we can look at long-term sustainable pricing and returns to growers.\u201d<\/p>\n
National Council of NZ Wool Interests chair Rosstan Mazey said China appreciates the challenge around wool supply volume going forward and is committing to increased pricing over the long term.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey know that this ensures that they not only get access to the fibre this year, but that they\u2019re keeping farmers motivated to stay in sheep and to stay in wool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also part of the NZ contingent in Nanjing, Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson said 40% of NZ wool is traded through this Chinese city, and it was important to take the temperature of the international wool trade.<\/p>\n
Mazey said you can\u2019t underestimate the power of government and ministerial engagement with the Chinese.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople were drawn to him, not only because he\u2019s a minister of government, but also because he\u2019s a sheep and beef farmer, someone who farms and grows the fibre that they want.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reading Time: 2 minutes China is emerging as the key to move the New Zealand strong wool sector…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,220,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-51086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-markets","tag-business","tag-markets","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}