Australia wool production seen steady next season

SYDNEY - Australia's shorn wool output is expected be little changed at 475 million kg in the year ending June 2006, an industry body said on Tuesday.

This is the first forecast for the 2006 production year and compares with a revised forecast for the year ending June 30 of 477 million kg greasy, said the production forecasting committee of the Australian Wool Innovation Ltd.

The 2006 production year forecast depended on seasonal conditions in much of Australia over the next two months, committee Chairman David James said in a statement.

"If the dry conditions, particularly in New South Wales, are replaced by a return to a normal autumn period, then shorn wool production could well be higher in 2005/06," he said.

This year's revised forecast is based on 107.15 million sheep shorn at an average of 4.46 kg per head. Both figures are slightly lower than the December forecast.

Rainfall in the next six weeks would be critical to major wool-producing areas in New South Wales, with much of the state still in drought, he said. Rain is also needed in Western Australia.

Australian wool production has been in a gradual recovery since its lowest output in more than 50 years in the year ended June 2004 when 430 million kg was produced, the committee said. Australia suffered its worst drought in a century in 2002.

There were fewer than 100 million sheep then as sheep farmers de-stocked. The drought still persists in parts of New South Wales.

- REUTERS