While wool industry was hit by the international financial crisis in the first half, global prices of raw materials fell to the bottom and this low-cost level of wool brought opportunities to China's wool industry, coupled with production demand and lower inventory.
China imported 20,500 tons of wool in September this year, down by 5.11 percent year on year and 241,140 tons of wool from January to September, up 3.95 percent year on year according to customs statistics.
In the second half, under the influence of rapid increase in exchange rates of the Australian and New Zealand dollars, international market price of wool kept increasing for 4 consecutive months.
To avoid risks of exchange rate in the second half, China's companies were more cautious in buying wool, so September imports of wool declined markedly and are also expected to reduce in the second half, when compared with that in the first half.
In response to excessive rise in wool price in the second half, China's producers can only dilute the cost by internal absorbing higher price and as there has been no significant increase in export sales, they are consumption of inventories and production of low-end woolen products.