Feasibility report on Australia’s early-stage domestic wool processing – risk and benefits

A Deloitte Access Economics report outlining the danger of reliance by the Australian wool industry on offshore wool processing has been released by WoolProducers Australia. Ed Storey, President – WoolProducers Australia says: 95% of our wool production is reliant on early-stage processing in a small number of countries before it can be used in the global textile supply chain. This concentrated reliance, together with emerging threats of sanitary and phytosanitary risks; other non-tariff trade barriers; and pressures on international sea freight costs and capacity present tangible risks to the Australian wool industry.

 WoolProducers is a peak national policy and advocacy body for wool growers. It advocates the industry’s interests to the Federal Government – and internationally – enabling growers to determine policy and drive change in their industry.

This report provides a feasibility assessment of domestic and diversified early-stage wool processing and determines its trade risk mitigation benefits.

In his forward to the report Ed Storey says: the wool supply chain from farm to fashion is perhaps one of the longest supply chains in the agriculture sector. Over time, the global wool production and processing sectors have evolved to become the complex ecosystem that we know today. Pressures on the industry, resulted in the offshoring of much of Australia’s wool processing capacity throughout the 1990s-2000s.

The report can be downloaded from the WoolProducers Australia website.