Shortage Of Icelandic Wool Across The Country And Abroad

There has been a great demand abroad for Icelandic wool in the epidemic, however suppliers have not been able to meet demands, Fréttablaðið reports.

This is due to the machines used to help craft the wool into the typical Icelandic sweaters have been faulty.

The CEO of Ístex, Sigurður Sævar Gunnarsson, has said that “We do not have more machines. It’s not more complicated than that.”

Wool’d you believe it

The company Ístex are known for gathering the most sheep wool in Iceland and have done so from a factory in Mosfellsbær.

From there, the wool is transported to Blönduós where it is washed and divided into raw wool and wool for fleece.

Sigurður stated that “In May last year, we noticed that the orders were getting bigger. At the turn of the year, they became so much bigger than usual.”

The orders have been coming from countries like Sweden and Finland with some coming from as far as Germany and the United States.

Bouncing back

Due to demand, Ístex has decided to invest in more machines, especially in the dock division, but also to add staff on evening shifts.

Sigurður has said it is impossible to predict when capacity and demand will balance out and that he tries to plan six months ahead.

Changes in agriculture have meant that there have been no fewer sheep in the country for more than a century and a half. However, this development has not yet affected wool processing as there is no shortage of raw wool.

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