Can collective spirit pull wool from industry's eyes?

OVER THE FENCE - BY JON MORGAN

I admit to being sceptical about the latest efforts to find a way to dig wool prices from the trough they have fallen into over the past 40 years.

After being studied by committees, consultants, a network and a task force, the New Zealand industry is still floundering. Now, the problem is to be put into the hands of one person, a sort of "wool czar". He has my deepest sympathies.

The appointment, yet to be made, follows the release of a report by a task force set up by Agriculture Minister David Carter.

It concluded that the industry's large number of interest groups did not share a "co-ordinated, overarching vision or strategy" and recommended establishing a marketing group that could leverage government funds for "partnerships in market-led wool research and innovation projects".

That role was previously partly performed by Meat and Wool New Zealand, but farmers last year voted to stop paying wool levies.

Mr Carter immediately promised to appoint an "independent convener" to pull the industry together. I understand a man has been approached and is interested.

But what a job. The industry is beset with squabbling. Hardly a day goes by without claim and counter-claim of rich purses prised open in the United States by the new farmer-industry commercial combos.

Behind the scenes, lobbyists campaign to undermine their opposition. At the same time, no legal stone is being left unturned as a claim for a share of millions of farmers' reserves is trundling its slow and expensive way through the courts.

And while all this is boiling away in New Zealand, the same back-biting battles are being fought between wool and synthetic carpet interests in overseas markets.

The International Wool Textile Organisation is spending [Euro]100,000 (NZ$197,000) on a campaign to convince local authorities throughout Europe to repeal building regulations that exclude wool from new projects after being gazumped by a synthetics lobby group's dirty tricks.

Even if all the disparate forces in the New Zealand industry could be called into line - the only way I can see is to appeal to a national allegiance to NZ Inc, a "let's all pull together for the good of the country" approach - they will still have a battle on their hands in the wider world.

Good marketing is the key. One of the task force's recommendations is the formation of a skilled marketing group. If the industry can be united, it would be hoped the expertise already available in such successful companies as Cavalier Corporation would be valuable.

But why should it co-operate? Cavalier, which buys its wool direct from farmers, has, by implication, had its name blackened by disgruntled farmers who have led the drive for change.

They have rubbished the efforts of the commercial world, rightly or wrongly blaming the buyers, brokers, scourers, spinners and retailers for "clipping the ticket" and taking too great a share of the profits. At the same time, they have refused to share in wool's marketing costs.

Instead, the farmers have, with the aid of rural companies PGG Wrightson and Elders, set up their own marketing operations and gone questing in the New World. In the case of the Wrightson-backed Wool Partners company a great deal of money has been spent - some say as much as $40m - on behalf of farmers who have yet to commit to a share of the ownership.

These companies claim to be raging success stories, although so far the stats show wool exports to the United States are down and prices have hardly moved.

It's early days still for these companies and the farmers have Mr Carter in their corner. You can't please everyone, and some in the rest of the industry feel left out. In an attempt to get a fairer hearing a group of exporters have gone over the minister's head to Cabinet No 3 Gerry Brownlee.

The exporters, through their National Council of Wool Interests, have launched a marketing initiative of their own, too. They have invited 11 of what they claim are the world's most influential architects to a seminar in Christchurch next month to respark their interest in using wool for interior carpets and textiles.

What the industry is hoping to achieve is the "angus effect".

All New Zealand primary industries are agog at the runaway success of angus beef. Minced beef from the angus breed of cattle is literally selling like hot cakes at McDonald's stores around the world. Such has been their popularity, that Australian rival Hungry Jack's has been forced to launch its own angus brand.

If the wool industry can pull off an angus-like deal of its own, then maybe the backbiting and squabbling can be put aside to concentrate on a greater good.

- © Fairfax NZ News