Ten years on since the introduction of the National Wool Declaration (NWD), industry experts have said although steady progression has been made, moving to a completely open market is the way of the future.
Dr Kerry Hansford, AWEX Quality and Project Manager said NWDs have become a critical piece of information for buyers when making purchasing decisions.
“The number of requests AWE receives from buyers for certificates of mulesing status for their customers continues to grow each year,” Ms Hansford said.
Between 2008 and 2017, the Australian declaration rate has increased from 38 per cent to 66pc.
Non-mulesed declarations have increased from three per cent to 12pc, pain relief declarations from three per cent to 32pc while decreased mulesed declarations have decreased from 29pc to 20pc and not declared have decreased from 62pc to 34pc.
Australian Council of Wool Exporters and Processors president Matt Hand said although the declaration use rates have risen, he still feels a frustration with the lack of use of NWDs by producers.
“We are also frustrated by their accuracy at times and subsequently their viewed legitimacy because if it is not accurate on a few occasions then it’s perceived value is lessoned,” Mr Hand said.
“The industry doesn’t intend to dictate what is mandatory and what is not, we would like things to be voluntary, but we need people to understand the importance of declaring their mulesing status for the marketing benefit alone if you’re non-mulesed.
“This includes crossbred growers that are non-mulesed, but don’t use the declaration.
“They may not see a premium every week of the year, but they will see it from time to time.”
He said the largest increase the industry is seeing for NWDs is from superfine woolgrowers.
AWEX CEO Mark Graves believes although we still have a way to go, the direction of having a complete and open market is inevitable.
He said the eastern states have been proactive when filling out NWDs with a rise of 70pc, Tasmania is above 80pc, but said Western Australia has a long way to go sitting at about 30pc.
“When we first started NWDs it was about what the buyer was saying, what the retailer was saying, so lets move in that direction, but the reality was most growers were looking for a market justification,” Mr Graves said.
“We are now starting to see that there are premiums in the market place for non-mulesed wool.”
He said in the wake of the mulesing ban put in place by New Zealand, it has to be noted that we are comparatively different to our neighbouring country as we have a broader spectrum of wool growing conditions and environments.
“Some are remote, some are intense and every season is different,” he said.
“But the market is looking for information and if that can help create more opportunities within a market then why wouldn’t we declare non-mulesed.”
“We want to make sure that we have an open dialogue up and down the supply chain. This is one of the requirements for the market - more information in relation to mulesing status.
“As an industry we should all be working towards it and working towards it as quickly as we can. This isn’t working towards non-mulsed, this is working towards having an open and informed market.
“It is a direction that is inevitable and I think we should embrace it.”
