State in Wool Deal with China
A lucrative export deal for Tasmanian woolgrowers, which will promote the Tasmanian brand to some of the world's top fashion houses, has been made with a Chinese textile company.
Delegates from China's largest wool textile enterprise, the Sunshine Group, visited the state yesterday and signed a memorandum of understanding in a commitment to do future business with Tasmania.
The textile company, one of the world's largest, plans to create a new line made exclusively from Tasmanian wool and promote Tasmania's clean, green image to the fashion houses of Europe and America.
In the first year it will buy up to 5000 bales of wool, which usually sell for $1000-$1200 each, and demand is expected to increase as the rest of the world recognises the wool's quality and strength.
Elders national wool manager Mark Rodda, who organised the Tasmanian visit, said the arrangement opened many possibilities for Tasmanian wool, which is now at its lowest price in five years.
There's no doubt the wool market at the moment is at a low point,
he said, and that's why we're excited by this announcement in that it'll give woolgrowers here in Tasmania a real chance to build on demand and ideally increase the prices of their wool.
We see this as sending out very clearly [a message] for Tasmanian woolgrowers that if they can keep producing the top quality wools they do now, there'll be even more markets for their wool in the future.
The Sunshine Group is the single largest buyer of Australian fine and superfine merino wool, purchasing more than 140,000 bales each year.
The company's delegates, who are on a five-day tour of Australia, have been fascinated by the state's clean, green image, as well as by the wool's quality and strength.
Last November they paid top price for a bale from a Grindstone Bay property at Triabunna and eagerly visited the same property yesterday to see first-hand where the wool was produced.
They recognise the difference Tassie wool makes to the finished garment,
Mr Rodda said.
Tasmania has wonderful recognition around the world for its clean, green image and wool quality and they are keen to be involved in that brand name.
State in wool deal with China — Sunday Tasmanian