Australian wool production is forecast to fall by 4pc in the 2007-08 season, as lower flock numbers from the drought reduce the number of sheep available for shearing over the next 12 months.

The Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) Production Forecasting Committee yesterday released its estimates, which are:

- Australian shorn wool production will be 410 mkg in the 2007-08 season.
- That’s a decline of 4pc compared with that of 2006-07.
- Number of sheep shorn will fall by 5pc.
- Impact of that fall will be cushioned, in part, by fleece weights rising modestly, reflecting improving seasonal conditions in parts of eastern Australia.

Committee chairman, Dr David James, says that fresh wool production and availability to the market will be low for the remainder of 2007 because of lower sheep numbers, lower fleece weights from the drought and the run-down in grower stocks.

?mproved seasonal conditions in parts of Australia will flow through to an improvement in wool production only in the second half of the 2007-08 season, given most of the wool, shorn this spring, has already been grown, he said.