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Wool Marketing must be number one priority…says AWGA
“It is time to go out and sell the positives of wool, to a consumer base that by and large does not understand or appreciate the many natural benefits of wool” says the Australian Wool Growers Association.
“With no indication of any short term gain to fresh wool prices, and increasing pressure of a high Australian Dollar against the US dollar, the number one priority for the wool industry is to urgently tackle the declining demand for wool” says AWGA Chairman Chick Olsson.
Attention has been diverted from this crucial necessity through the actions on animal activists and the ongoing and again increasing pressure of drought in eastern states, but the reality is the industry has yet to come to terms with the pressures that wool is facing.
Over the past decade we have experienced a gradual yet significant decline in wool production in Australia for a variety of reasons. Common sense would suggest that a corresponding lift in prices should have occurred with falling production levels, yet as every woolgrower would attest, this has not occurred. The reality is that demand for wool is also declining.
The Australian Wool Growers Association is calling for urgent action on the whole issue of promoting a positive image for wool, and seeking to create some more demand for wool at a consumer level.
“We have a wonderful fibre, some excellent new innovations coming from our R&D body, along with commercial partners, yet how are we promoting these products and are consumers even aware of them” asks Chick Olsson.
During my tour of the country in recent weeks from Goulburn to Perth, woolgrowers have this issue first and foremost in their minds.
”Woolgrowers across the country want some of their existing levy
funds immediately spent on selling the positives of wool and a commercial
and measurable marketing campaign to encourage increased retail support
carried out as soon as possible.”
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