RETAILERS still want unmulesed wool and - surprise, surprise - they don’t want to pay a premium for it.
Reports from meetings between wool industry delegates and the two major retail bodies in the UK and the US this month indicate while Australian Wool Innovation may have walked away from the 2010 deadline to end surgical mulesing, retailers haven’t.
The latest episode in the mulesing saga is understood to have been held at the request of the UK’s British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the US’s National Retail Federation (NRF).
Key topics are believed to have been the National Wool Declaration (NWD) and explanation of the scientific support that AWI had used in its back flip decision in July 27 that the 2010 mulesing "deadline" was unlikely to be reached for welfare reasons "based on scientific grounds".
WoolProducers president Don Hamblin, who was among the Australian wool delegation along with executive director Greg Weller, was tight-lipped this week on the outcomes of the meetings.
However, Mr Hamblin, who has publicly criticised AWI for its decision to "walk away from the commitment to mulesing", said any suggestion that BRC’s concerns about mulesing had retracted were unfounded.
Earlier this month BRC had signalled its desire to work with Australian wool industry on developing a market for improved welfare Merino and fine wools.
He said the proposition that retailers would change their mind because of a lack of wool available from non-mulesed sheep was incorrect.
"They have stated they want change," he said.
While, Mr Hamblin declined to comment on whether all parties had come to a consensus on the 2010 mulesing deadline, he said AWI had used a "similar style" addressing the retail federations as it did to Swedish and German retailers in 2008.
Investigations by Rural Press indicate both the NRF and BRC are yet to form a position as to whether they will take AWI’s scientific argument on board and accept that the deadline approach to the phase out of mulesing is not achievable.
However, a spokesman for BRC said it had been aware of the implications a swift change to eradicating surgical mulesing would have on Australian woolgrowers and it would like to work with wool suppliers to improve the animal welfare practices, but this must be done as "quickly as possible".
"Following consultation with the RSCPA (UK), BRC members will, until the end of this year, seek wool from suppliers who provide flocks with pain relief when mulesing. After this date, they will seek to use suppliers who don’t use mulesing – even if even pain relief is provided," the spokesman said.
"Retailers find it totally unacceptable to use mulesing without pain relief."
He said the BRC was continuing dicussions with AWI to encourage short and medium term strategies as well ensuring a long-term commitment to encouraging breeding to eliminate sheep vulnerable to ‘flystrike’.
AWI chief executive Brenda McGahan – one of four AWI representatives at the meetings – said AWI director David Webster had pushed the need for the retail sector to send a premium price signal to Australian woolgrowers that it required wool from un-mulesed sheep if it wanted to secure supply.
"Retailers of course don’t want to hear this…and while they certainly didn’t say they would, we agreed that the market would decide," Ms Mc Gahan told Rural Press.
Ms McGahan said anti-mulesing activists PETA remained vigilant in United Kingdom and had switched to targeting brands with small wool lines in the United States.
She confirmed Marks and Spencer remained committed to only sourcing wool for its menswear line from non-mulesed sheep.
AWEX chief executive Mark Grave, who said he was asked to attend the meeting by the retail bodies to discuss the progress of the national wool declaration (NWD), summed up the meetings as "amicable".
However, he said retail groups were "very forthright" in their view and "still looking to source from non-mulesed wool sources".
"They are aware of the figures when it comes to declared wool but they would also like to see more volume," Mr Grave said.
Since NWDs were introduced in August 2008 the usage rate has risen to 40 per cent of the total clip, with 10pc of wool declared either non-mulesed, ceased mulesed or pain relief.
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