A ‘little unstable at the moment’ is how Gerald Webster, Fletcher International Exports of Dubbo, about 300 km northwest of Sydney in New South Wales, described the industry at the moment.
China was experiencing problems with finished products which cut down potential sales. ‘Our customers in China have slowed their purchases. Things might get better and we are hoping for more interest in September. This happens every year.
‘Europe is on holiday at the moment but they are experiencing difficulties in the market but that might be because it is between seasons.’
Mr Webster said that Europeans were waiting for orders that might occur in September.
The market in Türkiye had ‘gone quiet’ and, while he did not know the reasons, he surmised that it could be the ‘in between seasons’ problem.
Russia was a user of a large portion of finished raw material from Australia. It was a ‘fickle’ market but there were more and more Russians trying to buy directly from Australia.
Webster said Russia was a ‘very difficult’ country to understand – problems included documentation, too many by-laws and too much red tape