Sheep farmers should cash in on current high price for wool

Walsh, who has made an annual pilgrimage to Scotland for the past 20 years buying wool for his company, Texacloth, said he would be paying between 1 and 1.50 per kilo this year, compared with last year's prices of between 50 and 70p.

For producers, this doubling in price will be welcome and should result in the value of wool exceeding the cost of shearing; a new situation following several years when the wool price has been low.

Walsh said there could be several reasons for the jump in value in the past 12 months, including there being fewer sheep in the main wool producing countries such as Australia and New Zealand

But he was specifically critical of speculators who were now working in the commodities market for their part of the current increase in value of wool. "They are there pushing the price of wool. It should be left to the simple laws of supply and demand," he said. He pointed out that many of the spinning mills in the UK were currently operating on a three-day week as demand for carpets in this country has been slow in the current economic recession.

And he did not see any rapid change in that position.

Despite these doubts about the future stability of the market, he was prepared to continue his practice of paying in full for wool when he took delivery.

This is in contrast with the purchasing policies of the British Wool Marketing Board who make an initial payment on delivery and then make the main payment once the wool has been sold through their auction system based in Bradford.

The BWMB has a monopoly position in buying wool in this country but Walsh and another Irish buyer use the loophole that wool exports are not covered by the legislation.

Walsh claimed he did not want to be seen to be in conflict with the BWMB but admitted he had taken more than 1,000 tonnes of wool out of Scotland last year, a sizeable percentage of the total Scottish wool.