Rural / Country

Wool season finishes on good note

07:53 am on 8 July 2014

The volume of wool exported over the past year is down but prices for cross-bred wool, which makes up the bulk of New Zealand's production, have increased.

John Dawson, general manager of the country's biggest exporter, New Zealand Wool Services International, said that was despite the impact a higher New Zealand dollar had had on eroding export returns.

"I always go by the coarse, cross-bred indicator, which represents something like 70 percent of the New Zealand clip," Mr Dawson said.

The indicator at the start of last season, on 1 July 2013, was $4.67 per kilo and it had finished at $5.12 per kilo - an increase of about 9 percent.

"And it's interesting to go across to the US dollar. We started out the season around the 79 cents New Zealand level and finished at 87.5," he said.

"So when you put them both together I think coarse wool prices have performed pretty well, really."