6 Aug 2012

Japanese deal takes station's whole clip

8:44 pm on 6 August 2012

Another breakthrough wool deal with a Japanese clothing manufacturer and retailer will allow a Canterbury high-country farmer to sell his clip at about 25% above the going rate.

Wool trader H Dawson has negotiated a deal to supply 70 tonnes of 18.5-micron merino wool to Japan's leading suit manufacturer, Konaka Co.

The wool will come from Philip Wareing's Big Ben and Mt Arrowsmith stations, up the Ashburton and Rakaia gorges.

It's the second direct supply agreement for New Zealand wool negotiated between H Dawson and Konaka this year, and Mr Wareing says it's hugely significant.

"It's an opportunity to sell our wool at a satisfactory price, probably about 25% above the market," he says, adding that it was about 15% above another deal he earlier turned down.

The sale will take all the clip from the station's main shear.

Mr Wareing says weather permitting, they hope to start shearing at Big Ben on Tuesday.

The man who put together the deal, H Dawson senior trader Craig Smith, also arranged the first direct sale with Konaka signed in April. That comprised a trial shipment of 15-micron wool from Tony Clarke's Closeburn station in Maniototo, Otago.