Rowena asked about a recent North Island wool auction in Napier.  Rob says it was an interesting day with about seven thousand bales offered, mainly second shear wool as seen in the North Island, all good colour wool, drawn from right across the Island apart from the far north.  The Market could be described as buyers favour.  Didn't go as well as they'd hoped.  'Round about 18 percent passed in.  But Rob emphasises there's still good demand for good wool. 

Rowena asked about the North Island in general.  Rob pointed out there's not a lot of shearing at the moment as lambing goes on - although a lot of trading hoggets are being shorn.  It's pretty wet with a lot of mud which will cause some concern going forward.  Generally it's reasonably quiet.
The South Island is really wet too - will that affect anything?  Rob reckons is similar to the North Island with a lot of mud.  Some very good pre lamb fleece coming through off cross bred sheep - particularly from Otago.  They've been making some very good premiums.  A lot of merinos and half breeds being shorn - some superb wool coming off those.  And a lot of that wool is going into contracts for the northern hemisphere.

What about the global perspective? Not bad, although shipping and transport are always a problem.  Europe seems to be slowing down which could be a refection of the economy, inflation - all the things New Zealand is facing.  There's probably not the discretionary spending there once was.  Asia and China in particular are pretty quiet.  India is becoming a major destination for New Zealand wool, accounting for 23 percent of New Zealand wool exports.

China may make a comeback soon.  Rob certainly hopes they do.