Exporters Want Govt Crack Down On Currency Punters

Exporters Want Government To Crack Down On Currency Punters

Punters speculating on the New Zealand dollar were creaming profits at the expense of meat, wool and dairy producers and the Government should be focussing on ways to step in and weed them out.

Wool exporter Peter Christensen from Fuhrman and Co said 80 percent of Kiwi dollar buyers were punters and the New Zealand dollar was in a realm of its own.

“The Government should be intervening and putting a cap on the amount of New Zealand currency that speculators can hold. We need to clearly differentiate between productive investment in New Zealand and international speculation.

“Since mid-March the Kiwidollar has gone up 46 percent and seriously undermined gains that should have ended up in farmers’ pockets.

“Wool prices paid to farmers have increased slightly on average since March,” he said. “But if the dollar had remained at the March levels, wool would be worth a $1 a kilogram more and increased the average woolgrowers’ pay cheque by $8000 to $10,000,” Mr Christensen said.

Peter Crone from John Marshall & Co predicted the dollar will go to 80 cents against the US currency and said that something was going to break.

“It will reach the point where international mills will stop buying New Zealand wool and turn to other woolgrowing countries or move out of wool and into synthetics,” Mr Crone said.

“We’re just at the point where demand is starting to come back into the market, and the overseas mills had absorbed the increase in New Zealand prices. But they won’t keep on buying New Zealand wool and other primary products if the dollar continues its climb.

“Crunch time is rapidly approaching,” he warned.

ENDS

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