Elders Primary Wool has secured its first order for New Zealand strong wool.A small order for Elders Primary Wool's Just Short carpets has been placed by United States company Fabrica International for a range of samples.Elders Primary Wool chairman Stuar
Elders Primary Wool has secured its first order for New Zealand strong wool.
A small order for Elders Primary Wool’s Just Short carpets has been placed by United States company Fabrica International for a range of samples.
Elders Primary Wool chairman Stuart Chapman said bigger orders would follow.
The initial order will pay a premium of about $1.30 per kilogram over the current market price for clean wool.
Mr Chapman said the samples will be go to 120 International Design Guild stores in the US from July this year.
International Design Guild is the retailer that agreed to sell Just Shorn carpets following a trade show in Las Vegas earlier this year.
Mr Chapman said manufacturers would need to prepare for orders to follow after the July release of the samples.
About 3% of the carpets sold in the United States are made from wool. Mr Chapman said a 1% increase in the use of carpets would equal New Zealand’s entire production of strong wool in a year, about 130,000 tonnes.
“This is just one step in the whole journey,” Mr Chapman said.
He said Elders was buying now to produce the samples, which would be delivered by the end of June.
New Zealand’s strong wool production has been stagnating over recent years with falling returns destroying confidence in the industry.
