A Government-appointed taskforce has called for the creation of a marketing body to come up with new products, uses and markets for New Zealand wool.
The taskforce was appointed by Agriculture Minister David Carter last year to advise on ways of lifting the profitability of New Zealand's struggling main stream wool industry, the strong and mid-micron wool sector, which has seen export returns fall by almost $2 billion since 1995.
Mr Carter released the report and its recommendations on Tuesday.
The report rejected generic promotion as a solution for improving the demand and prices for the bulk of New Zealand's wool production used in carpets and furnishings.
It says marketing needs to focus on brands promoting New Zealand wool.
Wool organisations need to look at forming a single body to overcome the fragmentation that has characterised the industry for decades, the taskforce says.
Wool industry participants are hoping that the latest initiative to get New Zealand's mainstream wool trade humming again won't go the way of the previous four efforts.
Mr Carter formed the taskforce after calling a meeting of representatives to discuss the industry's future, after farmers voted to dump the wool levy.
Sheep farmer representative Bruce Wills of Federated Farmers says four previous attempts "have not been as successful as they should have been."
Around the time of the first strategic review, in 1971, New Zealand was exporting wool to the value of $1.8 billion, he says. In 2009, wool exports had fallen to less than a third of that figure.
Others in the wool industry spoken to by Radio New Zealand hope the taskforce report will show some vision and focus on the wider, global perspective of wool marketing rather than taking a parochial New Zealand-only approach.
