The trend has accelerated for three or four years and has “moved very quickly and dramatically,” he told Rural News.
The decline in wool carpets sales in NZ has been “huge,” he says.
“We would like to have more NZers buy wool carpets but a lot of them have gone to synthetics. It is the consumer and their preferences.
“We all prefer wool but people are buying synthetic products. People are importing carpet as well… mostly synthetic carpet.”
Wool is still a big seller for Cavalier in Australia and the rest of the world so “we still push it,” he says.
Similar percentage declines in wool carpet sales are seen overseas as well but they are bigger markets.
However over 50% of what Cavalier sells now is synthetics. “In the end we’ve got to meet the market so we are producing synthetic carpets as well.”
Alston is not optimist in the short term for NZ wool growers.
“It is really demand out of China that moves the wool price.
“In the last couple of weeks that has looked to improve a bit; more has been moving but prices are still very low. I can’t see prices changing dramatically in the near term.”
His comments were based on questions on Cavalier’s annual report which showed a net loss after tax of $2.1 million for the year ending June 30, 2017.
This result reflects major manufacturing restructuring in the last 12 months, with rationalisation and plant consolidation between Christchurch, Wanganui and Napier, says Alston says in his annual report.
