Lifting the Wool Curtain: Recent Reforms and New Opportunities in the Chinese Wool Market with Special Reference to the "Up-country" Mills

From being an insignificant buyer of Australian wool at the start of the 1980s, China had emerged as Australia's major, if somewhat erratic, customer by the 1992/93 season. Continued development of Sino-Australian trade in wool is vital to the future of the Australian wool-growing industry. This article describes recent market and trade reforms in China and examines their likely impact on wool imports. Particular attention is devoted to the effects the recent changes will have on the up-country mills which represent a poorly understood but potentially significant new market for Australian wool. In many respects the problems/opportunities identified in relation to the up-country mills also exist for many other mills in China which, for various reasons, have traditionally produced for the domestic market. The domestic demand for wool products in China is potentially enormous and further development of this market is one of the great challenges facing the Australian wool industry