A HALT to raw wool and mohair exports from South Africa to China might benefit Australian growers of non-mulesed wool if it continued, a South Australian marketer said this week.
South Africa’s Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced that from August 18 it would no longer issue clearing certificates for raw wool and mohair to China, claiming it was “ethically impossible” to certify that the wool came from Rift Valley Fever-free areas, as required by the Chinese veterinary authority.
A Cape Wools spokeswoman said a technical team from South Africa’s Directorate of Veterinary Services was in China trying to convince authorities to drop the restrictions and follow World Organisation for Animal Health guidelines that do not require RVF-related conditions on certificates.
The spokeswoman said South Africa’s Minister of Agriculture Tina Joemat-Pettersson would also discuss the restrictions during a visit.
Adelaide-based wool marketer, E-Wool managing director Peter Vandeleur said he had lost orders for wool from unmulesed sheep to South African suppliers in the last six months.
He said the South African wool was cheaper and the country was perceived as a source of wool from sheep that had not been mulesed.
But if the Rift Valley Fever certification situation continued for several weeks it could have an impact on Australian wool prices, especially in regard to non-mulesed wool, he said.
“If it stays in place for four to five weeks I would be more sure that it would have an impact here,” Mr Vandeleur said.
The World Health Organisation said Rift Valley fever (RVF) was a viral zoonosis that primarily affected animals but had the capacity to infect humans.
Infection could cause severe disease in both animals and humans, WHO said.
The disease also resulted in significant economic losses due to death and abortion among RVF-infected livestock.
Australian Council of Wool Exporters and Processors president Michael Avery said he did not think the impact on Australian wool demand would be quite as marked as “we might expect”.
“A lot of that is due to the fact that China is currently a little hesitant in buying wool out of other markets and Australia, because of the volatility of the Australian dollar.
“The second and most obvious reason has been their two key export markets, being Europe and the United States, are still lagging behind in their recovery,” he said.
Mr Avery said South Africa wool exports to China totalled only about 10 per cent of the volume imported into the country from Australia.
The Australian wool market was expected to be “steady to dearer” this week, but it was too early to suggest that would be due to a lack of South African exports to China, he said.
“I think the greater impact is that the Australian dollar has come back from 93 to 89.90 US cents and the Chinese have had two weeks of sales here to re-establish a price level.”
South African wool exports to other countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, India and Taiwan were expected to continue.
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