In Australia, we tend to focus on our domestic wool production and changes to it in terms of volume and quality. Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand has traditionally been the great carpet wool producer, and they too have been experiencing major changes in wool production in recent decades, which this article takes a look at.
In New Zealand, the NZWTA (see more here) is the major wool testing house. (On this subject, an excellent Australian history of wool testing through the lens of the AWTA is available on the AWTA website (see here)). The NZWTA occasionally publishes micron distributions for the New Zealand crossbred and merino wool they have tested, which they have recently updated.
A recent note from NZWTA compared the crossbred wool tested between 2005, 2015 and 2025. Figure 1 provides a reproduction of the NZWTA graphic, limited to the 2005 and 2025 seasons only. The micron range runs from sub-25 micron to 41 micron and greater. The graphic shows some major changes in the New Zealand crossbred clip (as tested by the NZWTA) during the past 20 years. The proportion of 39 micron and broader has fallen, while the proportion of 36 micron and finer has risen, and the proportion of less than 25 micron has gone from around 1% (negligible) to around 16% (major).
Translating the NZWTA crossbred micron distribution to wool volumes requires some estimates to be made. New Zealand wool exports, taken as a good proxy for production, are divided into four micron ranges (see more here), the finest of which is less than 25 micron, accounting for around 12% of exports in greasy terms. This is called fine wool and includes the New Zealand merino clip (which averages 17-17.5 micron) and also a significant part of the 25 micron and finer crossbred wool shown in Figure 1. Beef+Lamb surveys estimate the proportion of merino sheep in the New Zealand flock at around 5%, so for this article, the merino proportion of the New Zealand wool clip is assumed to be 5%, meaning the crossbred clip accounts for 95% of the wool clip.
Figure 2 applies the NZWTA crossbred micron distribution to a volume calculated from Beef+Lamb export volumes, with a 95% scaling factor for a crossbred wool estimate. During the past two decades, total New Zealand wool exports have shrunk by 47%, from 163 to 86 million clean kg (the volume includes fresh shorn wool and slipe). In Figure 2, the drop in volume has been concentrated in the 36 micron and broader categories, with only 26 micron and finer volumes increasing.
Figure 3 shows the change in clean volume terms by micron category, and Figure 4 shows the change in proportional terms by micron category. Figure 4 is distorted somewhat by the large rise in sub-25 micron volumes (they have tripled), which minimises the extraordinary drop in 38 micron and broader volumes in the order of 77% to 90%. Thirty-seven micron is down 66% and 36 micron by 48%. These falls are on par with the collapse seen in the Australian broad merino production.
What does it mean?
Competitive pressures on sheep enterprises have continued to result in the New Zealand flock contracting. As well as reducing sheep numbers and wool production, there has been a major shift in the quality of wool produced, with New Zealand farmers abandoning the broader carpet wool categories and the sub-25 micron categories becoming a major part of the crossbred clip. Given the competitive pressures persist, these changes are not yet finished. As a direct influence on Australian wool prices, these changes are limited, but they do suggest we should understand what is happening in other regions that produce merino wool (and prime lamb) to help place our Australian markets in a clearer context.
Key Points
- Like the Australian wool clip, the New Zealand wool clip has shrunk markedly in volume during the past two decades (down by half), with the fall concentrated in the broader micron categories.
- The only crossbred categories to experience growth in production have been 26 micron and finer.
Click on figure to expand
Click on figure to expand
Click on figure to expand
Click on figure to expand
Data sources: NZWTA, Beef+Lamb NZ, ICS, Mecardo
