Lal Lal Estate will be the international face of Australia’s wool industry under wool tycoon Qingnan Wen, who on Friday outlined a vision to stabilise the country’s “roller coaster” wool prices and draw Chinese tourists from our cities and onto the farm.
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China has always known Australia rode on the sheep’s back, but never understood how the wool industry works, Mr Wen, who hosted the China Wool Industrial Association on the property on Friday, said.
Australia’s largest wool buyer, Mr Wen plans to bring Chinese consumers and the country’s most monied buyers to “the beginning of the wool pipeline” at the 2000-hectare Yendon property.
The Ballarat conference is the association’s first meeting outside of China. Combined its members buy $2 billion of Australian wool a year.
“The wool market in Australia is like taking a roller coaster. Now the wool price is very high, everyone is happy but one day when the wool price is getting down to the bottom you can see miserable things happen so what I would like to see is to work together to see how we could stabilise the supply chain,” he said.
Mr Wen plans to develop boutique accommodation on the property and convert the existing shearing shed into a wool museum.
Mr Wen bought the historic property in 2014 from the Fisken family for an undisclosed sum. The estate had been in the Fisken family for six generations.
The owner of Tianyu Wool urged the industry to work together to ensure a healthy future for a sector which has defined Australia.
The industry is tipped to see a 10 per cent growth in export earnings this financial year after years of drought and volatile wool prices saw farmers flock from wool to lamb.
“There should be more and more growers knowing that this industry has a great future but that relies on very strong commitment from other sectors of the pipeline to work together and that’s ultimately to make profit for everyone.”
Regional Development Minister Jaala Pulford said Friday’s conference was “an extraordinary opportunity” for Victorian sheep farmers.
Among the 130 delegates at the conference were representatives from China’s 80 major wool processors.
Buyers at Friday’s conference take 80 per cent of all Australia’s wool product, Ms Pulford said.
“Mr Yen has an extraordinary vision. One is to create a farm that is world’s best practise for production but also Mr Wen has a great ambition to create an extraordinary tourism experience here as well,” she said.
“I think it will give greater visibility to what happens here in Australia to these very important buyers.”
Jessica Black
Ballarat journalist.
Ballarat journalist.
