March 2015
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QT airport taking off Page 7
Rare optimism for wool growers Hugh de Lacy Half a century of relentlessly declining prices for coarse cross-bred wools – the sort used in carpets, and the mainstay of the New Zealand industry – appears finally to have bottomed out in the face of increasing demand from garment and furnishing manufacturers. When coarse crossbred wool hit a 21-year high in 2011, it triggered cautious optimism that the industry had at last turned a corner and was taking back some of the market share it surrendered to oil-based synthetic fibres after World War Two. That optimism has been reinforced since by the commodity’s ability to stay at or above
the $5/kilogram mark, despite the plummeting price of oil and wild fluctuations in both the New Zealand and American currencies. Towards the end of the long decline in prices last century it became apparent that dominance of the processing and manufacturing elements of the global wool industry had shifted from Britain to China, and Chinese diversification of endproducts has increased the demand for coarse crossbred wools. Where last century the producers of by far the bulk of New Zealand’s wool had only the carpet industry to supply, “more and more coarse crossbred wool is going into fabrics and upholstery,” the New Zealand CEO of international wool trader Segard Masurel, Peter Whiteman said.
“It’s not the very coarse stuff – the 38-39 micron – but the wool in the 32 to 25 micron range which is going in to coarse fabrics like women’s coats, and upholstery.” Whiteman said there was a range of reasons why crossbred wool was holding up, not the least being falling production following the more than halving of the New Zealand flock from over 70 million in the early 1980’s to under 30 million today. “But for me it’s the move away from reliance on carpet that’s the key. “It’s not that the carpet market’s not important, but when the only place you can sell your wool is into the carpet market, you quickly reach a threshold where the market’s satisfied, and that’s when the price collapses.”
End-product diversification by Asian manufacturers, and the Chinese in particular, are reducing that dependence, Whiteman said. “For example Nepal is starting to make shawls out of coarser wool now, and it’s these incremental movements of medium-micron crossbreds away from the carpet market that has really helped the price,” Whiteman said. He emphasised that the same can’t be said for merino finewool, which is used in high-end garment manufacture and comprises about 5% of New Zealand production. “The merino market over the last couple of years has really dropped dramatically, and that’s principally the result of the formal-wear market, the number of suits being sold, imploding,” Whiteman said.
Consent for $10m marina Chris Hutching Alan Kirker of Lakes Marina Projects has obtained resource consent for a marina at Queenstown. Although further appeals could delay the project it is likely to go ahead. Two objectors, one from Gore and another from Christchurch, have already prompted the appointed resource commissioners to decline consent for nine out of 31 buildings on floating pontoons that could have gleaned round $200,000 a year in rent. Mr Kirker said the loss of the buildings might be revisited at a later stage once people have seen the development under way. “It’s a bit ironic given you could berth the sixstorey Earnslaw (steamship) there.” He has yet to settle negotiations with Land Information NZ over a lease of the seabed. “Obviously the longer was can negotiate it the better it will be for the future of the company The Queenstown lakes District Council has agrseed to provide a lease for land-based activities. If all goes to plan Mr Kirker will make as market offer to boat owners to lease berths. The consent allows for 195 berths. “I think I could have 40 boats there based on current demand.” Mr Kirker says he is privately funded sop there is no requirement to seek public funds. A marina plan was previously floated by Christchurch businessman Buzz March but the local council cancelled its agreement, citing expiry of time.
INSIDE
Remarkables complex taking shape.... Construction is well underway on the new $20 million base building at the Remarkables Ski Area. Features of the building include a striking 10-metre glass frontage, and 1300sqm of outdoor decking which wraps around the building. Extensive restaurant, cafe and bar facilities on the first floor can accommodate up to 700 people inside and 500 outside.
Irrigators call for more funds - PAGE 2
Timaru Mills eye North Island - PAGE 2
The new ground floor facilities will provide improved ticketing, rentals, retail services, and access to the ski field. NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson says the building will be finished and ready for the 2015 season, which kicks off on Saturday June 20, the same weekend as the Queenstown Winter Festival. See story page 10
Cruise ship sector conundrum - PAGE 3
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