Traders flee wool market as sales & profit margins decline
25 Jul '06
1 min read
Constant fall in demand and poor margins have forced merchants and buyers, including Barretts of Ballina, to leave the wool business, which creates difficulty for HILL farmers to sell their product.
Even though Alan Browne of Connacht Gold in Tuam said that the cooperative would pay 20 cent per kilogram, few traders are left in business.
As farmers mostly sell their wool later in the year and shearing of most upland flocks still in progress, they are under no pressure to sell their products right now.
However, Michael Holmes, former Irish Farmers Association (IFA) Sheep Chairman warned that the problem may start now.
Mountain wool's problem has also been attributed to falling carpet sales as this wool is only suitable for the carpet industry wich is fast losing its market.
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