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Wool...what will you do with yours...
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<blockquote data-quote="yellowbelly" data-source="post: 7610520" data-attributes="member: 42308"><p>So, as promised, my regional WB board member has emailed me the latest blurb put out by the head honchos at Bradford.</p><p></p><p>It's basically just a longer version of the waffle at the front of this year's Producer Information and Wool Values publication, so nothing much new.</p><p>Just tells us what a great job they think they've done during the pandemic and how we should keep sending them our wool........</p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">Dear Producer, May 2021 </span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">The last 12 months have been very challenging for the wool industry The global wool market and British Wool have been through the most challenging 12 months in their history. The closure of large parts of the economy as Covid restrictions took hold severely impacted global demand and resulted in significant over supply through much of 2020. Auction prices in both the UK and New Zealand halved, with British Wool’s average auction price falling from around £1 per kilo pre-Covid to just 50p. When the first Covid lockdown was imposed the wool scouring plants in the UK closed and manufacturers stopped processing. Exports were also put on hold. We faced a situation where there was in effect no market for our product. As a result we closed the 2019 season with 11m kg of stock unsold. End markets for British Wool products also suffered. The closure of the hospitality sector (hotels, pubs, cruise ships, etc.) led to a significant reduction in the demand for contract carpets. Restrictions on travel had a similar impact on the demand for transport fabrics. Whilst consumer demand has been more robust the closure of non-essential retailers hampered sales. British Wool took the necessary steps British Wool rose to the challenge, taking the measures required to enable your organisation to survive the crisis. With the auction room closed to customers we moved our sales online and increased the frequency of wool auctions to every two weeks. This ensured that where markets were open British Wool continued to be used, that our customers had access to our product at short notice, and that cash flow was maintained so that we could meet our obligations. In January 2021 we announced a restructuring of our grading depot network. Some savings have already come through in the 2020 clip year with more to follow this coming season. On an underlying basis the savings equate to a reduction in our handling costs of ~7p per kilo which will translate into additional value for our producers over the medium to long-term. Over the last year we have lobbied extensively for support for the wool industry. Whilst this has been successful in Northern Ireland (where DAERA recently announced a support package for wool producers) British Wool was excluded from business support schemes in England, Scotland and Wales. This was due to our classification as a “Public Sector” body, a status we disputed given that we receive no government funding. Stock overhang has been cleared, prices are recovering As a result of our actions we have successfully cleared the stock overhang from 2019 and will close the 2020 clip year with a normal stock position. Since February auction prices have also started to recover. The average auction price is now around 67p per kilo. This is still a long way below where we need it to be but we are optimistic that we will see a further price recovery through the course of the next year. 2020 payment Despite the challenging year we have had British Wool is still making a payment to producers for their 2020 clip. The total return averages 15p per kilo and prices are in line with, or better than, our key competitor. A healthier stock position, reduced cost base and recovering auction prices put British Wool in much stronger position to deliver better value for our producers in 2021. The 2021 Producer Information and Wool Values booklet is now available to view on our website; <a href="http://www.britishwool.org.uk/information-wool-values" target="_blank">www.britishwool.org.uk/information-wool-values</a> Service is being enhanced Throughout the pandemic British Wool’s depots and collection sites remained open in a Covid secure manner and the haulier service for on farm collections has been maintained. We continued to accept all types of wool from all producers, a principal which lies at the core of our cooperative ethos. The restructuring will have no negative impact on the service we offer and we have opened a number of new collection sites this season. In order to support our service offering we are abolishing onward carriage fees at all of our collection sites from this season. British Wool’s shearing courses are also resuming this year. We see this as an essential part of the support we provide for the industry. We are looking to the future and stimulating demand Driving demand for British Wool, working in conjunction with our customers and downstream manufacturers, remains a vital part of what we do to deliver value for wool producers. Our licensee scheme continues to grow in strength with several new brands committing to use British Wool over the last year. British Wool will shortly be launching an e-commerce website to promote and sell our licensees’ products direct to the consumer. We are working with manufacturers to launch new British Wool ranges across a wide range of products, including a major new 100% British Wool carpet range for the residential segment. We are working with both industry and universities to support the development of innovative new uses for wool. In order to prosper we need you to send in your wool British Wool is a cooperative and we firmly believe that the collaborative marketing of the UK wool clip is the best way to deliver value for wool producers. If anything the principal of collaborative marketing is even more essential today than it was when British Wool was established in 1950. The wool clip needs to be sorted and amalgamated into commercial weights if it is to be used by manufacturers and achieve value for producers. The average clip size in the UK is around 500kg and this typically comprises 10 grades of wool. The UK is fortunate to still have two commercial scouring plants but these typically process wool in 50,000kg batches. Export to other markets such as China is in 24,000kg shipping containers where all lots must be core tested. Without our scale, grading and testing the clip would have lower value and the viability of UK wool processing would be jeopardised. With 35,000 members we are able to both aggregate the clip into commercial weights and offer a true nationwide service handling the wool from all UK wool producers, no matter what type of wool, or how much wool they have. The more wool we handle the more cost effective our operations become which in turn allows us to return more value to all producers. If an additional 1000 farmers each delivered 500kg our operating costs for all producers would fall by 1p per kilo. With this in mind please encourage your colleagues in the farming community to support British Wool and deliver their wool this year. On behalf of the Board and all at British Wool we would like to thank you for your continued support and wish you well for the coming season. </span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)"></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">Andrew Hogley – CEO ............................. Jim Robertson – Chairman</span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">The last paragraph made me smile.......... If 1000 more of us send 500kg each, it'll save them 1p/kg on their operating costs...... big deal <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite44" alt=":banghead:" title="Bang Head :banghead:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":banghead:" /> </span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Still no indication of a 'ball park figure' for this year's prospects (yeah, I know they haven't sold it yet blah, blah, blah) BUT the Irish have got their prices out and if the WB don't do something a bit more positive, 1000 more of us are likely to sell 500kg each to the Irish.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">I've no idea what the CEO looks like but I can't get this image out of my head....</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">[ATTACH=full]967437[/ATTACH]</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="yellowbelly, post: 7610520, member: 42308"] So, as promised, my regional WB board member has emailed me the latest blurb put out by the head honchos at Bradford. It's basically just a longer version of the waffle at the front of this year's Producer Information and Wool Values publication, so nothing much new. Just tells us what a great job they think they've done during the pandemic and how we should keep sending them our wool........ [COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]Dear Producer, May 2021 The last 12 months have been very challenging for the wool industry The global wool market and British Wool have been through the most challenging 12 months in their history. The closure of large parts of the economy as Covid restrictions took hold severely impacted global demand and resulted in significant over supply through much of 2020. Auction prices in both the UK and New Zealand halved, with British Wool’s average auction price falling from around £1 per kilo pre-Covid to just 50p. When the first Covid lockdown was imposed the wool scouring plants in the UK closed and manufacturers stopped processing. Exports were also put on hold. We faced a situation where there was in effect no market for our product. As a result we closed the 2019 season with 11m kg of stock unsold. End markets for British Wool products also suffered. The closure of the hospitality sector (hotels, pubs, cruise ships, etc.) led to a significant reduction in the demand for contract carpets. Restrictions on travel had a similar impact on the demand for transport fabrics. Whilst consumer demand has been more robust the closure of non-essential retailers hampered sales. British Wool took the necessary steps British Wool rose to the challenge, taking the measures required to enable your organisation to survive the crisis. With the auction room closed to customers we moved our sales online and increased the frequency of wool auctions to every two weeks. This ensured that where markets were open British Wool continued to be used, that our customers had access to our product at short notice, and that cash flow was maintained so that we could meet our obligations. In January 2021 we announced a restructuring of our grading depot network. Some savings have already come through in the 2020 clip year with more to follow this coming season. On an underlying basis the savings equate to a reduction in our handling costs of ~7p per kilo which will translate into additional value for our producers over the medium to long-term. Over the last year we have lobbied extensively for support for the wool industry. Whilst this has been successful in Northern Ireland (where DAERA recently announced a support package for wool producers) British Wool was excluded from business support schemes in England, Scotland and Wales. This was due to our classification as a “Public Sector” body, a status we disputed given that we receive no government funding. Stock overhang has been cleared, prices are recovering As a result of our actions we have successfully cleared the stock overhang from 2019 and will close the 2020 clip year with a normal stock position. Since February auction prices have also started to recover. The average auction price is now around 67p per kilo. This is still a long way below where we need it to be but we are optimistic that we will see a further price recovery through the course of the next year. 2020 payment Despite the challenging year we have had British Wool is still making a payment to producers for their 2020 clip. The total return averages 15p per kilo and prices are in line with, or better than, our key competitor. A healthier stock position, reduced cost base and recovering auction prices put British Wool in much stronger position to deliver better value for our producers in 2021. The 2021 Producer Information and Wool Values booklet is now available to view on our website; [URL="http://www.britishwool.org.uk/information-wool-values"]www.britishwool.org.uk/information-wool-values[/URL] Service is being enhanced Throughout the pandemic British Wool’s depots and collection sites remained open in a Covid secure manner and the haulier service for on farm collections has been maintained. We continued to accept all types of wool from all producers, a principal which lies at the core of our cooperative ethos. The restructuring will have no negative impact on the service we offer and we have opened a number of new collection sites this season. In order to support our service offering we are abolishing onward carriage fees at all of our collection sites from this season. British Wool’s shearing courses are also resuming this year. We see this as an essential part of the support we provide for the industry. We are looking to the future and stimulating demand Driving demand for British Wool, working in conjunction with our customers and downstream manufacturers, remains a vital part of what we do to deliver value for wool producers. Our licensee scheme continues to grow in strength with several new brands committing to use British Wool over the last year. British Wool will shortly be launching an e-commerce website to promote and sell our licensees’ products direct to the consumer. We are working with manufacturers to launch new British Wool ranges across a wide range of products, including a major new 100% British Wool carpet range for the residential segment. We are working with both industry and universities to support the development of innovative new uses for wool. In order to prosper we need you to send in your wool British Wool is a cooperative and we firmly believe that the collaborative marketing of the UK wool clip is the best way to deliver value for wool producers. If anything the principal of collaborative marketing is even more essential today than it was when British Wool was established in 1950. The wool clip needs to be sorted and amalgamated into commercial weights if it is to be used by manufacturers and achieve value for producers. The average clip size in the UK is around 500kg and this typically comprises 10 grades of wool. The UK is fortunate to still have two commercial scouring plants but these typically process wool in 50,000kg batches. Export to other markets such as China is in 24,000kg shipping containers where all lots must be core tested. Without our scale, grading and testing the clip would have lower value and the viability of UK wool processing would be jeopardised. With 35,000 members we are able to both aggregate the clip into commercial weights and offer a true nationwide service handling the wool from all UK wool producers, no matter what type of wool, or how much wool they have. The more wool we handle the more cost effective our operations become which in turn allows us to return more value to all producers. If an additional 1000 farmers each delivered 500kg our operating costs for all producers would fall by 1p per kilo. With this in mind please encourage your colleagues in the farming community to support British Wool and deliver their wool this year. On behalf of the Board and all at British Wool we would like to thank you for your continued support and wish you well for the coming season. Andrew Hogley – CEO ............................. Jim Robertson – Chairman[/COLOR] [COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)]The last paragraph made me smile.......... If 1000 more of us send 500kg each, it'll save them 1p/kg on their operating costs...... big deal :banghead: Still no indication of a 'ball park figure' for this year's prospects (yeah, I know they haven't sold it yet blah, blah, blah) BUT the Irish have got their prices out and if the WB don't do something a bit more positive, 1000 more of us are likely to sell 500kg each to the Irish. I've no idea what the CEO looks like but I can't get this image out of my head.... [ATTACH type="full"]967437[/ATTACH][/COLOR] [/QUOTE]
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