Meat & Wool New Zealand welcomes new wool venture

Media Release
2 February 2009

Meat & Wool New Zealand welcomes new wool venture

The recent announcement by Elders Rural Holdings Limited (Elders NZ) to launch a new venture to increase profitability for New Zealand strong wool has been welcomed by Meat & Wool New Zealand Chairman, Mike Petersen.

“We are very encouraged by this initiative from Elders with the explicit aim of increasing returns for wool growers at a time when wool prices are at an historic low. Importantly, Elders NZ have embraced the concepts discussed in the Wool Industry Network (WIN) strategy, and have started down the path of working in the market with brand owners and of connecting them to the wool grower in order to secure a better future for wool,” Petersen said.

WIN was funded by Meat & Wool New Zealand and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise to complete a sector strategy for the wool industry in 2006. WIN completed its work during 2008 with the published report and implementation plan, which recommended the formation of a new marketing company jointly owned by industry and farmers to innovate in the market. Following this Wool Partners International (Wool Partners) was formed as the joint venture vehicle to pursue the strategic aims of the report.

“WIN has certainly been the catalyst for change we were hoping for when we agreed to fund the initiative three years ago. However, we now have the situation where both Elders and Wool Partners are pursuing the same strategic principles. It would be more desirable for both of these companies to come together and jointly innovate to improve the returns for the entire New Zealand wool industry,” Petersen said.

The announcements from Elders and Wool Partners in recent months come on the back of the mid season update produced by Meat & Wool New Zealand earlier this month. It confirmed earlier predictions of a declining sheep population and a reduced wool clip.

“It makes no sense for both companies to pursue the same strategy in the same target markets and then to fight on the ground for a reducing supply of crossbred wool from farmers. One of the key strategic principles in the Wool Industry Network document was the need for industry to collaborate in order to achieve better returns.

“Now is the time for these two like-minded companies to come together for the betterment of the entire wool industry in New Zealand,” Petersen said.

ENDS

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