Wool growers advised work in unison with textiles industry
10 Feb '06
3 min read
At the annual Eastern Cape National Wool Growers' Association, members extolled for a shared vision yesterday, and requested to work in unison with the textile industry and progress.
Speaking at the congress which is ending today, Almero de Lange, Chairman, Wool Forum, offered strategic inputs to achieve viability and stability of the wool sector.
Lange opined, “South Africa's wool clip is an export commodity in either the unprocessed or semi-processed form, with Europe as the main export destination.”
“The paradigm is underpinned by the traditional auction system operating in Port Elizabeth,” he said.
This season, markets are at a historic low levels trading at 5% to 10% below the Australian levels.
Viewing that if the demand shot up, he said, the auction system would be less vulnerable, but it should not be considered in isolation only to sell wool, as margins on non- distinguished commodities were low all over and would be susceptible to market ups and downs.
Contending that wool industry had to reposition itself, he gave a call to develop close working partner ship with the between wool producers and processors, particularly with the textile industry rather than the clothing industry.
He drew comparison between textile and clothing industry and backed this by stating that automation of textile industry higher than that in clothing industry leading to higher output per employee of R389 000 compared with R91 350in the clothing industry.
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