The rapid rise in wool prices in the past year has sharpened the competition with synthetics and exporters say wool has lost some ground to artificial fibres in carpet manufacturing as a result.
Auction prices have regained some of the value lost in recent weeks when the exchange rate and a seasonal lull in overseas demand trimmed returns.
Wool exporters council president John Dawson says European buyers are back in the market again after their summer holiday break and lower supplies coming out of New Zealand in the next few months will also help prices.
But he says the speed of the price rise in the past year has caused some resistance through the processing chain and wool has lost market share to man-made fibres.
