Listen: Australian trends show promising lift for merino wool in near future

PGG Wrightson's GM for wool Grant Edwards. Photo / Supplied

With shearing season about to begin, trends in the Australian market have shown great promise for the wool industry with demands for Merino wool on the rise.

PGG Wrightson's GM for wool Grant Edwards spoke with The Country's Jamie Mackay about the market growth and budding ideas for unconventional uses of wool.

Despite recent droughts in Australia impacting production, Merino wool has seen price hike as buyers, exporters, and overseas manufacturers are lining up to secure quality product.

The new wool selling season in New Zealand was off to a disappointing start, but Edwards explains that the market is getting stronger and that there is a lift in cross-breed wool - about 10 to 15 cents a kilo. The trends are increasingly positive and are showing consistent growth.

Listen below:

For Australia, the demand for Merino in the past week has seen a jump in value. Edwards highlights that "current prices are unprecedented given recent times" and "the market lifted a dollar clean which is the biggest increase since 2002."

In addition to the growth in Merino, Mackay and Edwards discuss that various cross-breeds of wool are being manufactured to suit alternate needs, including active sportswear, wool filers, and as a potential pet food source.

Edwards mentions that there has been a lot of research into the breaking down of wool into a powder, as it is made of keratin and proteins, and could be the "to long term sustainability in our cross-breed wool market."