Publications

Branding Fluid Analysis Project

In 2006, AWEX decided to undertake a project that looked at branding fluid contamination.

Branding fluid contamination is a major headache for Wool Processors and despite huge investment in developing formulations such as SIRO-Mark that scour out, many exporters will not take the risk on lots as they cannot be sure if brands have had solvents such as petrol or diesel added.

Previous testing projects on brands had relied on branding fluid being applied to wool by the Testing body in order to simulate the paddock situation.

The idea of this trial was to take a more commercially realistic angle by selecting wool from grab samples as they are presented to the trade. It was then hoped to work back through brokers and talk to growers about how and when they applied the marking substance.

AWEX auditors collected 142 brand-affected samples from sale lots with varying intensity and colour from all 3 selling centres. The samples were tested by CSIRO according to AS 4054 “Scourable Branding Substances for Greasy Wool” using the colour measurement equipment described in the International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) Test method 56.

This test method is used to predict the likely scouring performance of brands applied to a fleece in a prescribed method in line with current commercial scouring practices. After carding the scoured samples they were measured for colour difference by comparison to the original wool and graded on a pass-fail scale. The results indicate that 58 samples out of the 142 (41 per cent) failed to scour and comb out.

Concurrently, price analysis was conducted by University of Sydney Agricultural Economics student Madeleine Ryan, as part of her honours thesis to assess the price impact that contamination with branding fluid has for all fleece lots audited as containing a marking substance (branding fluid or raddle).

The price analysis of all fleece lots (n=1843) found that discounts are particularly large for superfine wools (less than or equal to 18.5 micron), ranging from 19c/kg for light branding contamination (R1) to 110c/kg for medium-level branding contamination (R2).

Lots with fibre diameter greater than 20.6 micron, but less than 23.5 micron (medium category) also attracted significant discounts. For example, medium level contamination (R2) received an average discount of 58c/kg.

A full PDF version of the report can be downloaded here.