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6 August 2020
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Wool Street Journal

Wool News: Wool Industry 'good train' hits global pandemic

As the global COVID-19 pandemic continues, the International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) has evaluated its ongoing impact. Wool growers, brokers, processors and manufacturers have all been adversely affected, it reports.

Impacts of COVID monitored by IWTO include:

•  Australian wool prices falling by 36 per cent, and as much as 47 per cent elsewhere throughout the world. This has prompted Wool Producers Australia to forecast a further decline in what are already 95-year low production levels.

•  Orders for wool selling agents and buyers plunged, first from China, then spreading through east Asia, India, Europe and elsewhere.

•  Wool processors’ order books shrank 30 to 40 per cent.

•  Wool clothing exports from China were down 33 per cent in the first four months of 2020.

•  Clothing retail sales for the year to May dropped by as much as 38 per cent in major wool consuming countries, driving many famous tailored apparel retail brands to the brink of bankruptcy, while sales of floor-coverings fell similarly.

According to IWTO: “The wool supply chain includes tens of thousands of wool farmers and thousands of other companies involved in transforming raw wool into textiles. The supply chain resembles a long goods train. Signals from one end take a long time to reach the other. With wool farmers each making their own decision about selling product, no single organisation can stop this.

“The goods train that is the global wool industry has hit a brick wall, but the back end is still moving forward. It is vital that information about the impact of the crisis is provided quickly to all involved, particularly back to the wool farmers, so they can make fully informed decisions.”

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