Editing British Wool Marketing Board

{{use British English|date=April 2019}}
{{use dmy dates|date=April 2019}}
[[File:British Wool Marketing Board (logo).png|right|thumb|British Wool logo used as a [[servicemark]]]]

The '''British Wool Marketing Board''' (also now known as '''British Wool''') operates the central marketing system for UK [[wool|fleece wool]]. A [[farmer]]-run organisation, British Wool was established in 1950 with the aim of achieving the best possible net return for producers. It is the only organisation in the world that collects, grades, sells and promotes fleece wool and is the only remaining agricultural commodity board in the [[UK]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Walsh hits out as wool board spends £50,000 on detectives |url=https://www.scotsman.com/business/companies/walsh-hits-out-as-wool-board-spends-163-50-000-on-detectives-1-535436 |access-date=1 April 2019 |work=The Scotsman |date=4 June 2004}}</ref> 

Receiving no financial support, although operating commercially. British Wool is a non-profit-making organisation, returning to producers the market price for their wool, with its own costs deducted.<ref name="TAA">{{cite news |last1=Holland |first1=Chris |title=Bradford wool centre that's the only one like it in the world |url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/business/business_features/9861258.bradford-wool-centre-thats-the-only-one-like-it-in-the-world/ |access-date=1 April 2019 |work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus |date=8 August 2012}}</ref>

== Organisational structure ==
British Wool is required to register all producers with four or more sheep with the exception of producers in [[Shetland]], which has its own arrangement by selling through a cooperative.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wool Marketing Board registration |url=https://www.gov.uk/wool-marketing-board-registration |website=gov.uk |access-date=1 April 2019}}</ref> This system was developed after the [[Second World War]], when farmers were trying to sell their wool on an open market. The system was described as being "chaotic and discriminatory".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Vaughn |first1=Lisa |title=Commodities: Merchant challenges wool board |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/commodities-merchant-challenges-wool-board-1458766.html |access-date=1 April 2019 |work=The Independent |date=2 August 1993}}</ref>  According to British Wool, there were between 40,000 and 46,000 registered producers in 2015.<ref>{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.britishwool.org.uk/about-us-farmers |website=British Wool |access-date=1 April 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Gibson |first1=Robert |title=The changing face of the British Wool Marketing Board - The Journal |url=http://www.thejournal.co.uk/business/changing-face-british-wool-marketing-9021180 |access-date=1 April 2019 |work=The Journal |date=10 April 2015}}</ref> The number of producers has been falling; in 1995 it was 91,000, by 2012 it was 75,000.{{sfn|Roche|1995|p=182}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Simpson |first1=W. S. |last2=Crawshaw |first2=G. H. |title=Wool: science and technology |date=2012 |publisher=CRC Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=1-85573-574-1 |page=8}}</ref> This has also been in line with the number of sheep available; in 1990 there were 65 million sheep for wool farming, by 2012 this had fallen to 40 million.<ref name="TAA"/>

British Wool collects, grades and auctions all types of British sheep wool on behalf of British sheep farmers.

The board of nine elected producer members, representing nine different areas of the [[UK]], and two government appointees, meet eight times a year and report back to nine regionally elected committees.{{sfn|Roche|1995|p=183}}

Day-to-day operations are run from British Wool's headquarters in [[Bradford]], [[West Yorkshire]] with smaller offices in [[Scotland]], [[Wales]] and [[Northern Ireland]]. Wool fleeces are graded at one of the eight grading centres that they operate before being sent to auctions which are held approx. 18 times per year.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bradshaw |first1=Julia |title=British Wool: a thriving industry, thanks to running the last marketing board in the country |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/11/20/british-wool-a-thriving-industry-thanks-to-running-the-last-mark/ |access-date=1 April 2019 |work=The Telegraph |date=20 November 2016}}</ref>

== Industry in Decline, further impaired by Covid-19 ==
The growth in use of synthetic fibres, coupled with the introduction of US imports and fewer players in the wool industry’s supply chain have led to the regression, since the 1950s, of the British wool industry and its products popularity.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |date=17 July 2020 |title=Coronavirus: Sheep wool 'barely worth selling any more' |work=Elisabeth Mahy |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53421546 |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref> The global wool market was forced to shut in February 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which made it impossible to sell all of the years produced crop. As a result, extensive amounts of unsold wool are stored in depots, causing prices of wool to plummet. A 14 million kg backlog is waiting to be cleared by the board, while the average price per kg has virtually halved from the previous year’s 60p to 32p. Further reasons for current decline in wool prices are Brexit uncertainty and the US-China trade war.<ref name=":0" />

The situation had dramatic effects for sheep farmers across the UK. Farmers lost money through selling their product, as the costs that came with shearing and selling the wool outweighed any profits. Particularly for remote farms, where the asking price for wool was worth less than transportation and fuel costs to the given British Wool depots.<ref name=":0" /> Many farmers were forced to discard their wool by storing it away, composting, or through more dramatic methods such as burning. This left farmers only having to cover shearing expenses, as it is still necessary to sheer the sheep for their health and well-being (so they do not suffer from blowfly strike, which causes maggots). The wool predicament leads to the farmers growing concern about the British Wool Board policy. Some farmers feeling the organisation has been too focused on the Chinese market and missed out on establishing connections with substitute markets, alternative supply chains and creating more consumer demand.<ref>{{cite news |date=26 August 2020 |title=Reports from Devon that sheep farmers are burning wool |work=Lisa Young |url=https://www.southwestfarmer.co.uk/news/18676570.reports-devon-sheep-farmers-burning-wool/ |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
*{{cite book|last=Roche|first=Julian|title=The International Wool Trade|year=1995|publisher=Woodhead Publishing|location=Cambridge|isbn=1-85573-191-6}}

==External links==
* {{Official website}}

[[Category:Marketing boards]]
[[Category:Wool organizations]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Bradford]]
[[Category:1950 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Agricultural organisations based in the United Kingdom]]