The Australian wool market finished 1.2 percent higher, on average, at sales in Newcastle, Melbourne and Fremantle this week. The AWEX EMI rose by 15 Aust cents (1.7 percent), ending the week at 896 Aust cents a kg.
This reflected rises of 23 Aust cents (2.5 percent) in the North and 9 Aust cents (1.1 percent) in the South, with their corresponding Regional Indicators finishing the week at 939 Aust cents and 860 Aust cents clean, respectively. The Western Indicator fell by 1 Aust cents (0.1 percent), finishing the week at 845 Aust cents.
In a three day sale in Newcastle and a two day sale in Melbourne, the AWEX EMI rose by 4 Aust cents on Tuesday, by 9 Aust cents on Wednesday and by 2 Aust cents on Thursday. The Western Indicator rose by 1 Aust cents on Wednesday and fell by 2 Aust cents on Thursday in a two-day sale in Fremantle. As will be seen below, the difference between the East and the West was due to the relative absence of fine wools in the West.
A total of 49,532 bales were on offer, compared with 43,183 bales last week, of which 8.2 percent were passed in, comprised of 2.6 percent in Newcastle, 10.2 percent in Melbourne and 13.9 percent in Fremantle. Pass-in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 8.2 percent and 8.0 percent, respectively. 1,251 bales (2.5 percent) were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered bales made up 8.1 percent of this week's offering.
It was another generally good, although mixed, week for growers, with strong competition for a good quality offering of superfine wool in Newcastle and for the better superfine types in Melbourne. Other Merino types did less well with week-on-week changes ranging from small decreases to small rises.
Average AWEX Micron Price Guides (MPGs) were up by 29 Aust cents clean for 16.5 microns, by 33 Aust cents for 17.0 microns, by 47 Aust cents for 17.5 microns, by 44 Aust cents for 18.0 microns, by 29 Aust cents for 18.5 microns, by 9 Aust cents for 19.0 microns and by 6 Aust cents for 19.5 microns.
The 20.0 micron wool average MPG was up by 2 Aust cents clean, 21.0 microns was unchanged, 22.0 microns was down by 2 Aust cents, 23.0 microns by 7 Aust cents, and 24.0 microns was up by 3 Aust cents.
Skirting types were in strong demand all week, especially those at the fine end and those with lower VM levels. Oddments were up in Newcastle, but finished on a similar level to last week in the South and the West. Crossbred average MPGs rose by around 8 Aust cents at the fine end, by 13 Aust cents for medium types and by 7 Aust cents at the coarse end on top of last week's good gains. Buyers for China were dominant with support from buyers for Italy in Newcastle where the competition was reported as very strong, particularly over the first two days.
Sales will be held in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle next week, when 61,283 bales are currently roistered for sale. Present estimates for the following two sales are 47,525 and 52,900 bales, respectively, an increase of 9.7 percent over the three sale period when compared with last year (note there was one less sale in Fremantle in this period last year). The expected offering for next week is up by 8,900 bales on the previous week's estimate. No doubt, due to the better recent prices.
But, fluctuations of this size always cause annoyance and disruption to buyers. The New Zealand Merino Company will also offer 3,261 bales in Melbourne next week. In South African sales, the Cape Wools Indicator was up by 1.3 percent since last week against a 1.1 percent depreciation of the Rand against the US Dollar and a 1.8 percent depreciation against the Euro.
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