EAST Lancashire farmers are looking forward to a bumper year with wool prices set to soar.

The increase has been put down to countries including China becoming a major importer and the material coming back into fashion.

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Farmers in the region are celebrating the rise from £1 per kilo to £1.10p which has been the accepted standard price for some time.

The British Wool Marketing Board has said that it expects prices to continue to rise throughout 2015 and into the following year as well.

The rise comes after a strong showing in the market during the second half of 2014 and a mild winter in East Lancashire.

Wool is expected to increase in value across the UK due to a global shortage which has seen an increase in demand over recent months.

British Wool Marketing Board’s Lancashire rep Brian Nutter, who owns Sabden Old Hall Farm in Fence, said: “This increase might not look like much to people outside of the industry but it’s a big deal to farmers.

“Every pound helps a lot and for prices to be going up is great news for us.

“It means that we can cover the cost of shearing the sheep in the first place a lot easier.

“There is a shortage of wool worldwide and this has helped to drive up prices in East Lancashire and in other areas as well.

“The farmers won’t feel the benefits of this rise for a while but it will be very much welcomed when it does finally come.

“We hope that this boom continues for a long time to come as it’s a very welcome extra income for people to have.

“The sheep farming situation in East Lancashire is in a relatively healthy state at the moment.

“The winter was not that bad and we did not get much snow.

“This was good for the sheep.”

Gareth Jones, the board’s communications manager, said: “In the last four years, the wool clip values have been consistently higher than the previous ten years.

“While we’re unlikely to see prices make any dramatic surges, a tightening of supply does mean prices should hold strong.”

He added that global demand for British wool was still strong and falling sheep numbers in many parts of the world meant that demand was high enough to increase prices.

 

Wool-d you believe it?

  • Wool is elastic and it grows in clusters.
  • It can absorb almost one-third of its own weight in water.
  • Wool ignites at a higher temperature than cotton and some synthetic fibres. It has a lower rate of flame spread, a lower rate of heat release, a lower heat of combustion, and does not melt or drip.
  • The quality of wool is determined by its fibre diameter, crimp, yield, colour, and staple strength. Fibre diameter is the single most important wool characteristic determining quality and price.
  • Woolly-sheep were introduced into Europe from the Near East in the early part of the 4th millennium BC. The oldest known European wool textile from around 1500 BC was preserved in a Danish bog.
  • Global wool production is about 1.3 million tonnes per year, of which 60 per cent goes into fabric. Australia is the leading producer of wool which is mostly from Merino sheep. New Zealand is the second-largest producer of wool, and the largest producer of crossbred wool.