Australian Wool Innovation chair Jock Laurie pledges commitment to growing international demand for fibre

Australian Wool Innovation’s chair has pledged his commitment to “building demand for wool” during some of the most economically challenging times the international wool market has ever seen.

Jock Laurie — who took the reins in from Colette Garnsey last year — told the AWI annual general meeting on Saturday that there were a number of headwinds facing the company.

His comments came just days before the Eastern Market Indicator dipped to 1239c/kg on Tuesday, breaking a four-week stint of consecutive losses after last week falling to 1232c/kg — its lowest point since January 2021.

AWI is owned by woolgrowers and is the industry’s not-for-profit research, development and marketing company, and also owns the iconic Woolmark brand.

Mr Laurie said it was clear shearer training was the number one issue for woolgrowers, but AWI was still working behind the scenes to bolster international demand for wool and in turn boost prices.

“From a board point of view we do a lot of investment in regard to continue to build demand for wool to create more competition in the marketplace and on the on-farm level to make sure we are doing research and development which is trying to minimise the cost of production as much as we can,” he said.

He also recognised that many growers were affected by the severe damage of the bushfires in WA earlier this year and right nowm the devastating impact of flooding across Eastern Australia.

“It is quite staggering and it is really important that as a company we understand those issues and do whatever we can to help people through that process,” Mr Laurie said.

Mr Laurie also highlighted the growing importance on traceability and sustainability for both woolgrowers and consumers.

“AWI is ahead of the game on traceability. And we a very strong position to take it forward. A lot of the traceability stuff was developed by Wool Q. Traceability and sustainability is absolutely critical,” he said.

AWI chief executive John Roberts told the meeting that a year ago there were plenty of challenges for the wool industry including casualisation, geopolitical tensions, and a desperate shortage of shearers, now there are even more.

“Twelve months on these challenges mostly remain and we have a number of additional factors to contend with including the war in the Ukraine and the skyrocketing energy price that it brings, domestic floods causing widespread damage across most of the eastern states, the threat of FMD, the rampant spread of barbers pole worm, unyielding demand for provenance and traceability and the push for sustainability,” he said.

“And while the threat of COVID-19 may have subsided, the economic impost it has caused globally is becoming a reality contributing to what is commonly becoming known as recession anxiety.”

There were no changes to the AWI board at the AGM, with it falling in a non-election year.

The next director election will be in 2023, two years after the most recent in 2021.

The meeting in Sydney did not consider any motions and only 637 valid proxy forms were lodged for the meeting, equal to 27,491 voting rights, representing 3.52 percent of the total voting rights.

Australian Wool Innovation’s annual loss more than doubled to $10.9 million last financial year while its marketing spend ramped up as industry weathered “wildly” fluctuating wool prices.