FINE wool producers who have ceased mulesing can contract their clips for three years at “near” current prices under a deal being offered by The Merino Company.
TMC pools manager Angus Hooke said 1500 bales of 17.5-19.5 micron wool is being sought this year – 4500 bales total - in co-operation with the New Zealand Merino Company for its Zque-accredited program.
Mr Hooke said non-TMC forward prices were now at a discount to market prices, so the ZQUE program represented an opportunity to contract wool at prices “near” to current levels for three years up to 2014.
Mr Hooke would not release any details on the three-year contract prices but he said the offer would show that growers who were prepared to invest in not mulesing their sheep would be rewarded.
TMC said Zque is a respected wool brand, embraced by global brands such as Icebreaker, Smartwool and John Smedley, but Mr Hooke said NZMC was struggling to find enough suitable wool in New Zealand to supply the market segment.
“There is just not enough Merino wool in New Zealand that fits the bill.”
Growers interested in supplying under a three-year contract would have to be independently audited to meet ZQUE standards for farm management and animal welfare. TMC would initially look to source the wool from Tasmania or from selected growers on the mainland, Mr Hooke said.
“It is a new thing for growers to be contracting wool for three years,” Mr Hooke said, but an obstacle to meeting the Zque wool shortfall could a trend back to mulesing among wool growers.
TMC has heard that a lot of growers had returned to mulesing their sheep after recent fly waves, good wool prices and the lack of a premium on the auction floor for wool from non-mulesed sheep or from flocks that had ceased mulesing, Mr Hooke said. For more details see discoverzque.com .
