Wool Prices Soar Over 70% in a Year, Aiding Farmers' Costs Amid Global Shortage

The price of wool has increased more than 70% in the last year, helped in part by a smaller British flock of sheep and a dwindling of the global stockpile produced during the Covid-19 pandemic. Prices reached a 10-year high earlier this year, and comes after some farmers burnt fleeces in protest against how little they were being paid. On average, a kilogram of clean shorn wool sold for £2.54 in the most recent sale, compared with less than £1.50 a year ago. The rising cost may not be welcomed by shoppers seeking woolly socks and jumpers this winter, but it does mean farmers are more likely to cover the cost of shearing. And while most people associate the versatile fibre with jumpers and blankets, it is also used in products ranging from flood protection systems to slug pellets, further helping fuel demand. Wyn Williams keeps a flock of 700 sheep on the hills above Llanfair Caereinion in Powys and said it could be an expensive business. He said the demand and subsequent increase in price "helps cover costs". "We've got professional shearers coming, it's not everybody who can shear," Williams said. "You've also got your helpers, the wool wrappers and everything else so it assists with the costs." Like most sheep farmers, Williams primarily rears them for meat and breeding rather than for their wool, but it still has to be taken care of. "Most importantly we have to shear from an animal welfare and health perspective. "Who would want a big, strong winter coat still on with the excessive heat we're having at the moment?" The fleeces from Williams's farm are taken to a local wool depot in Newtown, where manager Barry Bellis sorts through them by hand. It is an industry that has survived centuries, with wool being spun back in the Bronze Age. Bellis said he could spot 68 different grades of wool as he had worked through the fleeces, with the best destined for formal wear while others ended up as slug pellets.