Harvey leading new Wool Group

Agri-business leader Colin Harvey has been appointed by the Government to head the Wool Group, a body charged with turning around the ailing strong wool industry.

Mr Harvey, who founded animal health company Ancare in 1985 and later sold it to Merial, said he had some ideas of what needed to be done to ensure wool had a future, but the question was how to implement that.

Unlike sheep meat, where production was falling but demand remained high, Mr Harvey said demand and prices for wool were weak.

"There is no low-hanging fruit - all we can do is lift our act to improve things in the long term.

I don't think competition between companies is destroying the market at the moment.

It's a matter of concentrating on areas where there is an opportunity."

He said there were some positive initiatives under way with the two largest exporters, Wool Partners International and Elders Primary Wool, establishing brands and relationships with carpet manufacturers and retailers.

Mr Harvey said the success of New Zealand Merino, which has built a brand around New Zealand's attributes, qualities and values, was another example of initiatives that were working.

He has spent the last nine months working with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise on a Primary Industry Strategy.