The Sun.
London, England, 1838-09-03 00:00:00

REPORT OF THE WOOLLEN TRADE

FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST.

SEPT. 1, 1838.—The transactions of the month of August
have been large in amount, and satisfactory in other respects.
Throughout the month the resort of buyers from all parts•of
the home market has been steady, and their purchases have
been on a good scale, and we think at a fair profit to the
sellers. We infer the latter circumstance from the absence of
that " chaffing" and beating down of prices, which, when the
buyers are few and the goods many, is so common in the expe-
rience of the Leeds woollen merchants. We believe the prin-
cipal demand has been for the home trade—a fact which de-
cisively indicates a rapid approach to full activity in all the
staple departments of our manufactures, and shows also that
the channels of foreign exchange, so long obstructed, are again
open.
The goods in chief request have been the heavier fabrics,
viz. pilots, beavers, and double-milled cloths ; next to them
blue cloths of low and middle qualities, and in a lesser de-
gree wool blacks and greens. In the lighter fabrics of cloak-
ings, which a few years ago were so much in demand during
the autumn, especially olives and browns, very little has
been done ; indeed we understand that they are superseded by
a more suitable fabric, which may perhaps mean a more
fashionable one. Olive and brown single milled goods of
middle qualities have been little inquired for, and, except for
the American trade, are apparently a drug.
The stocks of balk and finished goods are not large. It
could not be otherwise, after the brisk demand of the last
two or three months. The severe losses of staplers and
clothiers during 1837 had so far checked confidence in the
former class, and compelled extreme caution and limited
operations in the latter, that, as we stated in a recent re-
port, it was impossible that a large stock could be held by
merchants or manufacturers. The result has verified our
opinion. The preparation of goods, wo believe, is extremely
guarded, and most properly so. Until the last ten days the
grounds for apprehending a very deficient harvest were many
—caution was plainly the only justifiable policy, and we be-
lieve it has been generally followed. Another cause, doubt-
less, has operated to repress the manufacturers—the appre-
hension that wool might not maintain its high comparative
elevation, and that apprehension has not yet altogether
ceased. The price of the raw material, as determined at the
recent German fairs, will compel the manufacturers to raise
prices full five per cent. as compared with the mass of goods
sold during the last three months. It so happens that the
goods, which are annually fresh brought into stock, from the
new wools, come in at the close of the active autumn demand,
and when there are two or three dull months in prospect.
This, in years of steady prices, does not operate seriously on
manufacturing activity—but when, as in the present year, wool
is decidedly up, both merchant and manufacturer anticipate
the struggle to realise the advance on goods, and hence both
are cautious. They are so now, and with good reason, since
neither the amount of the harvest at home nor on the Conti-
nent, nor the probable demand for cloth in the States, is yet
a matter of tolerably exact calculation. There is, besides, a
large clip from Australia, estimated at between 7,500,000 and
8,000,0001b5. weight, which, in the present vibrating condi-
tion of the English wool trade, must tell on the prices of that
article, as well as on the lower German wools.
In our two last Reports we dwelt at some length on the
prospects of the harvest at home. Within the last fortnight
the signs have been more propitious—increasing warmth_
drying winds, and, saving one violent storm in the immediate
neighbourhood, but little rain. In the south of England the
harvest has commenced auspiciously—but the notions as to
quality and quantity are exceedingly various—whilst in Ire-
land much anxiety still prevails, and in the north of England
and Scotland the whole harvest is exposed to the risks of an
unusually late season. We are compelled to hold to our pre-
viously expressed opinion of a crop under an average, and
consequently high price of food during the next 12 months.
If correct, caution should be the manufacturers' motto—they
will act otherwise as they may have good reason for dissenting
from our opinion.
The probable extent of the spring demand for the States
still continues to be a subject of interest. We have no new
light to throw on it. Commercial matters there are at least
perfectly calm; and, in the order of change, activity surely
follows. We acknowledge that we look for it with confidence.
—Morning Advertiser.