NSA and British Wool: The Current Wool Market Situation

This webinar was recorded as part of NSA's October 2020 Virtual Celebration of Sheep Farming. Graham Clark, Director of Marketing for British Wool joined NSA for the final webinar of NSA's October series.

Current wool market situation and British Wool’s consumer focussed marketing strategy sponsored by British Wool was the final of our online webinars. Laura Johnson gave a brief overview of British Wool before Graham Clark (director of marketing) took over. He initially covered the current situation of wool, explaining that “this is the most difficult situation that British Wool have seen in 70 years and with further risk of entering depression, all global wool prices have halved since this time last year”. He highlighted the negative effect of COVID-19 creating a backlog of the UK 2019 clip, as British markets were closed February to March 2020, frustratingly during their busiest selling period. However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom… he explained that current demand is increasing and the use of online virtual auctions allowed them to reduce their surplus 2019 clip from 11 million kilos to 1 million – an impressive reduction in the time scale. He moved onto consumer sales and future marketing strategy, covering their new licensing scheme aiming to ensure brands and producers claiming to use British Wool actually reach minimum requirements set. Their increased use of social media, improvements to their website and their traditional product displays and exhibitions have boosted consumer education on wool, defending our farmers on controversial matters to the general public such as shearing, animal welfare standards and climate change.  He concluded with a short discussion on some ‘blue sky projects’ focused on future proofing the future of British Wool and wool products. After a lengthy Q&A session, NSA’s Nicola Noble brought the session to a close. 

If you enjoyed this webinar and appreciate the work that NSA does, consider becoming a member so NSA can continue to support the UK sheep industry. More information and membership benefits can be found here.