Winter 2001 (Issue #10)

QA wool leads way into China

A five tonne specialist wool shipment sent to China last month to be processed into premium hand-knitting yarn - all happened because of quality assurance.

The Fernmark Gold shipment - which is thought to be the first fully quality-assured consignment sent to China - was sourced entirely through the Fernmark Quality Programme network, which extends from the farm to the export dump store. All wools that make up a delivery can be traced back to the farm of origin.

In this case, the Coopworth hogget wool that made up the delivery came from a single farm - Will and Nick Morris's 'Berriedale' farm in North Canterbury.

The wool was exported by quality-accredited exporter H Dawson Sons and Co, and will go to the QiFa Textile Group in Hebei for processing.

Dawson's General Manager, Mark Johnston, said the impetus for the shipment came from both the customer and the suppliers.

"The QiFa group was after fine, sound hogget fleeces that were free of vegetable matter and with excellent white colour. At around the same time, Will and Nick Morris asked our HD Farm Direct operation to market their Coopworth hogget wool.

"We thought a Fernmark Gold shipment was a natural progression as 'Berriedale', HD Farm Direct and Dawsons are all Fernmark accredited. It all came together at just the right time."

The QiFa Textile Group will make the Morris's wool into high value hand knitting yarn, which it will sell through some of the group's stores in China.

QiFa is also using some recently purchased Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand (WRONZ) technology to process the shipment.

The WRONZ lincLITE process uses steam or hot water to produce a bulkier yarn, which uses less wool to produce lighter garments without loss of cover or warmth.

Dawson's Mark Johnston said he was confident the trial would be a success.

"We have been marketing growers' wool direct to mills but to take a Fernmark accredited grower's clip and sell it as a Fernmark Gold delivery into China makes it extra special."

Some 1500 growers are Fernmark accredited, accounting for around a quarter of wool at auction.

Johnston believes that the free market forces of supply and demand will govern how many growers join the Fernmark Quality Programme.

"We would like more growers to belong to the programme. We also have clients overseas who will buy only from a Fernmark accredited exporter.

"The major difference between FQP deliveries and normal deliveries is that under FQP everyone from the grower to the mill has to conform to the extra FQP quality assurance requirements."

- Iain MacLean

HD Farm Direct buyer Don Kars (left), with QiFa Textile Group's CEO Wang Qifa, fine Coopworth hogget wool grower Will Morris and H Dawson Sons and Co General Manager Mark Johnston, at Berriedale farm.