Mark Patterson, Minister for Rural Communities and Associate Agriculture Minister, says India is now New Zealand’s second-largest wool market. He says the opportunity lies in the textile industry, which the country plans to triple by the end of the decade.

Patterson has returned from Bharat Tex 2026 in New Delhi, where he saw carpet that had been hand-knotted for the country’s new parliament using 20,000kg of New Zealand wool.

“It’s like walking on clouds, it’s absolutely magnificent,” he says.

Indian manufacturers are keen to deal directly with growers, he says, and want farm-assurance credentials such as NZFAP or ZQ behind the wool.

“Our wool is the best wool in the world.”

He says the trade has run entirely through brokers, with no direct relationship between growers and manufacturers.

“We’ve done nothing up there for 20 years.”

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