The FUW has welcomed Welsh Government’s recent comments relating to using more British wool in public buildings in an attempt to support the industry following acute impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic, and has discussed the issue with Minister Lesley Griffiths.
However, the FUW remains concerned that the commitment needs firming up, given it is a commitment “...to consider the more widespread use of wool in our estate in future, subject to the required compliance testing and certification.”
Over recent months, the FUW has discussed the issue with and written to to Welsh and UK Ministers after the global market for crossbred wool was closed at the beginning of the pandemic, resulting in around seven million kilos of unsold stock out of a total twenty-seven million from the 2019/20 clip.
As British Wool pay producers an advance payment for the current year and a balance payment from the previous years clip, the average payment is around 17 pence per kilogram for the 2019/20 season - some 70% lower than last year's payment - with the likelihood of delayed balance payments next year due to unsold stocks.
Furthermore, British Wool is treated as a public body - despite being a self-funded, independent business operating in a competitive market and owned by around 40,000 sheep farmers - and has therefore been refused financial support through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), unlike its competitors.
It is welcoming to see that Welsh Government has become the first in the UK to look into the matter proactively and we have sought a firm commitment that this will be genuinely taken forward.