Peace maker role offered in wool war

Mike Petersen. Photo / Hawkes Bay Today

Meat and Wool New Zealand is offering help to bring two competing factions of the wool industry together in a united effort to save the sector.

Chairman Mike Petersen said the industry body had been working "day and night" to try to get Elders Primary Wool and Wool Partners International (WPI) to work together on their strategies for repositioning wool as a luxury export fibre.

Steadily declining wool prices has led to a shrinking national wool clip as farmers move away from the unprofitable fibre towards meat breeds.

In the past couple of months, Elders and WPI have both launched new brands aimed at positioning wool as a high-end, sustainable product to increase its value.

The situation has led to a tit-for-tat campaign to attract farmers' support.

In the latest manoeuvre, Elders has released a study showing that just 3 per cent of US carpet consumers recognise the long-standing Fern Mark brand, now part of the WPI initiative.

In contrast it says the survey shows that its new Just Shorn brand clearly communicates the values of environmentally friendly New Zealand wool.

Petersen is critical of the media statement.

There was no point in New Zealand having two competing brands, allowing importers to play one off against each other, he said.

"I have been on record time and time again to say this is not in the best interests of New Zealand."

Meat and Wool was proposing putting funds towards market development work over the next two years to bring the two organisations together.

"We're prepared to work really hard with both companies.

"It doesn't make sense, doing what they're doing now.

"They're pursuing the same strategy in the same target markets and then coming back and fighting for a decreasing supply of wool on the ground. It's absurd."

The funding for the initiative would come from the Meat and Wool levy, which farmers are being asked to vote on this month.

A "yes" vote will give the organisation a mandate for another five years.

The US survey prompted a group of Romney growers who sell through Elders to call for farmers to vote against the levy.

Romney New Zealand chairman Hugh Taylor said it was a "huge issue" that after all the money that had been spent on the Fern Mark over the years, overseas consumers were not aware of it.

But Petersen said there had been no retail promotion of Wools of New Zealand and the Fern Mark in the last five years because farmers voted against it in 2003.

WPI chief executive Iain Abercrombie said Wools of New Zealand and the Fern Mark were well understood in the carpet industry, and the product went into 55 per cent of wool carpets in the US and Europe.

WPI would continue to promote the Fern Mark as a sign of quality alongside its new consumer brand Laneve, which would signal the sustainability and traceability of the wool.

Asked if Elders and WPI would ever work together, Elders managing director Stuart Chapman said the two organisations were not trying to achieve the same thing.

WPI was working with overseas carpet manufacturers, whereas Elders was starting at the other end with retailers.

"There's a huge difference. You can't extract value unless you're going to work with a retailer because you've got to be able to control what the retail price is."