The average price for the 2007 winter season closed on R65,81 and the average for the year ended on R72,69, slightly down from the average for 2006, according to Mohair South Africa. A lthough the last sale of the 2007 winter season started well, it could not maintain momentum and ended slightly down from the previous sale, to close with an average price of R61,71.
Mohair SA was also disappointed with the performance of kid’s and young goat’s hair, taking current demand trends into consideration. considerable quantity of kid’s hair was declared not sold, bringing the average sale clearance down to 95%. C ompared with the previous winter sale, prices were as follows (exchange rate R6,84 to the dollar and R10,08 to the euro): kids decreased by 4%; young goats decreased by 5,6%; fine adults were unchanged; and strong adults fell by 1,5%. But Pierre van der Vyver, general manager for mohair at CMW, feels the winter selling season closed on a very firm base. “There was little price movement, except on very short mohair. All five buying houses competed well on the larger-than-expected offering. The Pure Cape bins excelled again, and Billy and Fred Colborne stole the limelight with a price of R198,02/kg for a bale of winter kids.” ccording to Van der Vyver, all signs are positive for the coming summer season. “We don’t think adults will return to the high level of more than R70/kg of the previous season, but demand is still excellent and for long, fine young goat and kid’s mohair it’s still on the increase. CMW has again negotiated a R310/kg contract for EGT hair of 20 micron and finer.” The first sale of the summer season will be on 19 February 2008. – Roelof Bezuidenhout
