Concerns are being raised in Australian wool circles regarding the deteriorating quality of the raw wool coming in to the markets in recent months. Wool traders are noticing that there has been an increase in what is called Vegetable Matter or ‘VM’ in the recent arrivals of raw wool.

Experts have warned wool growers to be vigilant at shearing time as bad quality of wool leads to discounting on the base price of the raw wool. They say that in previous years the content of ‘VM’ was not so high, which could raise concerns, but that now, the ‘VM’ levels are gradually increasing.