The Commerce Commission has received an application to merge the country's remaining wool scouring operations.
It follows the announcement this week that Cavalier Wool Holdings and New Zealand Wool Services International have reached an agreement to amalgamate their wool cleaning services in response to a declining wool supply and increasing competition from Chinese scours.
The commission gave Cavalier permission to buy WSI's wool scouring assets three years ago, but that approval has now expired and the company has had to apply again.
If it's approved again and the merger goes ahead, the wool industry will end up with just two scouring plants - one in Napier and one in Timaru.
