Investors urged to go for wool

Market still growing, entrepreneurs told

YOUNG agricultural entrepreneurs were urged yesterday to tap into the multibillionrand wool industry, where a massive gap in the market has been identified.

Cape Wools SA made the appeal as it highlighted a market for the production of 25 million kilograms of wool, which could see entrepreneurs investing in the industry without fear of saturation.

Cape Wools SA chief executive Louis de Beer was speaking at the announcement that the company was gearing up to host the city’s first Wool Week and biggest industry showcase in years.

It will be held in and around Walmer Park Shopping Centre on March 30 to April 2 as part of the annual international Wool Week.

With the province currently producing about 20% of the country’s wool, De Beer said more could come from individual or group producers provincially.

“There are wonderful opportunities at the moment for entrepreneurs,” he said.

“The market conditions for wool sheep farming are most favourable.”

He believed that the gap in the market the board had identified meant that entrepreneurs could easily and with confidence invest in the wool market.

Cape Wools SA is the governing body of various groups involved in the production, trading and consumption of South African wool – an industry that injects between R3- and R4-billion into the national economy.