Exporters Welcome Elders Wool Initiative

14 February 2008

Exporters’ President Welcomes Elders Wool Initiative

The Wool Exporters Council welcomed the two recent wool marketing arrangements announced by Elders Primary Wool; firstly a deal with the world’s biggest carpet retailer and secondly in setting up a support and supply relationship on behalf of Romney growers.

Elders Primary Wool announced a deal with US-based partner CCA Global, which is the world’s largest carpet retailer with 14 affiliated companies and 3600 locations worldwide.

Then a few days later came the news they had brokered a deal in the US on behalf of Romney NZ with Everett Deneane to sell Nepalese hand woven rugs made from New Zealand Romney wool.

“Elders has quietly put together these big scale concepts that represent innovation, planning and investment and when they had their ducks in a row they made their announcements,” said Wool Exporters president John Henderson.

Mr Henderson said that he admired the size and scope of the deal that Elders has done with CCA Global. He said that it is the sort of deal most wool exporters have entered into for many years on a much smaller scale, but which for commercial reasons are not usually given publicity. He said the Elders Primary Wool deal was bold and well worth talking about publicly.

Mr Henderson said that it was almost laughable that Mr Mike Petersen, chairman of Meat and Wool New Zealand had reacted to the announcements.

He claimed the industry is too small to have competing players and is suggesting that Wool Partners International should be allowed to hang off the coat tails of the Elders initiatives.

“So far Wool Partners International has done nothing but badmouth the rest of the industry. It has done nothing constructive or innovative in wool marketing and Mr Petersen’s comments sound very much like a dose of sour grapes.”

ENDS

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