The Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX) conducts a review the industry Code of Practice every three years with wide industry consultation. The purpose is to ensure that the integrity of the Australian wool clip continues to be held in the highest regard amongst our customers. The AWEX Board has approved the recent review. The Schneider Group is a strong supporter of the AWEX Code of Practice. It has very clear guide lines on wool clip preparation that wool growers and their classer should follow to ensure best practice is maintained and our wool clip continues to be a trusted and reliable source of supply for consumers across the world. The Australian wool clip is held in the highest regard largely due to the work done by AWEX, the Code of Practice and the high standard of our registered wool classers. Some wool classers were recently awarded with a gold stencil recognising 50 consecutive years of classing the Australian wool clip.

The Schneider Integrity Scheme, Authentico, is gaining strong support from the wool growing community. One of the key elements of Authentico is for a grower’s wool clip to be prepared in compliance with the AWEX Code of Practice. Almost 1500 bales have been sold at auction under the Authentico Quality Assurance scheme in the first 8 sale weeks since launch. We have been pleased to be able to buy some of these bales as we now start to build trusted supply chain partnerships with some important clients. We encourage growers to consider the Authentico scheme as a part of their on-farm quality assurance.