MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay's wool and skin sales top 93 million US dollars

Uruguayan wool, sheep skin and live sheep exports from the current 05/06 clip totalled 93 million US dollars by the end of February, reported the Uruguayan Wool Secretariat.

This represents an 8.4% increase over the same period a year ago, with wool and skins representing 63.2 million US dollars in the November/February period.

Greasy, washed and combed wool exports actually increased 49.3%, compared to the same period a year ago, totalling 19.9 million kilos. Combed wool represented 68.1% of that total.

Uruguay's main markets for wool, sheep skins, live sheep and other ovine products were: China, 33.3%; Italy 16.5%; Germany 10.6%; Mexico 5.5%; Brazil 5.2% and Iran 3.7%. China's purchased surged 52.3% compared to the previous year and Italy's 27.8%.

In related news Brazil reported that the 2005/06 grain crop will reach 123.9 million tons, a slight 1.71% drop from the January estimate according to Brazil's Geography and Statistics Institute, IBGE.

The reduction of almost two million tons was mainly caused by the drought in rice and soybean fields in the states of Bahia, Minas Gerais and Matto Grosso do Sul.

However the new estimate for the 2006 sugar cane crop is 443 million tons which represents a 0.66% increase over January and 5% more than last year.