'Come on board for better wool returns'

Mr Langrish makes the point in his commentary on the board's annual report, published online this week. It is aimed at the minority of farmers selling to Irish dealers, who have made some inroads into the UK market during a period of discontent with wool board performance.

Over the 2009-2010 season, all wool prices have been up and the Bradford-based BWMB reports that its Price Indicator – the average expectation at auction for a basket of wools of different grades – went up from 71p per kilo in July 2009 to 120 ppk in April this year. Averaged out, this should mean farmers get 47.7 ppk for the wool they supplied, compared to 33.2 ppk for the previous 12 months – and there are high hopes that prices will stay up for the whole of the current season.

Mr Langrish says, however: "The weight of wool being sold continues to decline as the sheep flock has contracted. It is essential that the board receives every kilo of wool. This helps to not only maintain the market price but keeps down the costs on a per kilo basis.

"It has been suggested that if the board had received all of the wool in the last year, there would have only been one cancelled sale (instead of two that had to be cancelled due to lack of stock) and that ... could have had the effect of increasing returns to all producers by up to 5p/kg. Part of this would have been in reduced costs on a higher-volume clip."

Mr Langrish says sheep numbers are still declining so it remains imperative that the board gets all the custom available.

The report and accounts are available as a printable document at www.britishwool. org.uk/ They reveal Mr Langrish's pay as 28,000 and chief executive Ian Hartley's as 114,000, plus benefits.

The annual meeting of the board will be held at Wool House, Roydsdale Way, Euroway Trading Estate, Bradford, BD4 6SE, from 5.30pm on November 24.

CW 23/10/10