Bradford wool sellers are using supermarket sales techniques to sell the wool clip against the odds.

A downturn in the economy and stiff competition from abroad caused sellers at the Bradford-based British Wool Marketing Board to offer the nearest they could get to the "buy one, get one free" ploy used in supermarkets.

The special offers allow wool buyers to buy a lot from auction and purchase other lots at the same price at a future auction.

The result is that 42.36 million kilos of wool have been sold compared with 40.47 million kilos last year - though at a lower average price.

The BWMB, with its headquarters in Grattan Road, has sold its wool cheaper so that the stockpile was not too high at the start of the new season which has just begun.

This has left the 4,000 wool producers in West and North Yorkshire with less return on their wool but with not too much wool left over to sell as the new season opens.

The BWMB brings wool from 40 million sheep in farms throughout Britain to its warehouses where it is graded and sells it on at a series of auctions.

Wool Board spokeswoman Liz Ambler said: "We have sold the wool but the prices are not good. Once there is an upturn in the market we will be in a stronger marketing position.

"Farmers are not going to get a good price but hopefully things will improve. We have been looking to create other markets and offering more wool forward - like taking an option on wool - buying next year's wool at today's prices. We are using supermarket techniques so that you can buy one lot at auction at a particular price and can come back and buy the same sort of wool at the same price," she added

Wool Board managing director Ian Hartley said: "It is gratifying that we have sold so much this year. Trading through is the only way forward to give the market the best chance of recovery and to be in the strongest position to take full advantage of any upturn.

"Unfortunately, because of the very difficult market is has not been possible to both sell and achieve better prices. We will continue to make every effort to find a market for the coloured wools and to market aggressively at home and abroad."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.