The Australian wool market finished 1.8 percent lower, on average, at sales in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle this week. The AWEX EMI fell by 13c (-1.3 percent), ending the week at 985c/kg clean.
This reflected decreases of 11c (-1.1 percent) in the North and 12c (-1.2 percent) in the South, with their corresponding Regional Indicators finishing the week at 1,011c and 963c clean respectively. The Western Indicator fell by 30c (-3.0 percent) over the two weeks since the last sale, finishing the week at 980c/kg clean, a similar fall to the North and the South over the same period.
When compared with the start of the upward movement of the market in October, the EMI and the Northern, and Southern and Western Indicators are now up by 244c (32.9 percent), 245c (32.0 percent), 243c (33.8 percent) and 263c (36.7 percent), respectively. 19 to 23 micron average AWEX Micron Price Guides (MPGs) are up by 261c to 272c clean over the period and by 213c for 24 micron wools. At the fine end, the changes are 169c for 16.5 micron wool, 219c for 17, 265c for 17.5, 245c for 18 and 263c for 18.5 micron wool.
48,293 bales were on offer, compared with 32,808 last week, of which 12.9 percent were passed in, comprised of 6.9 percent in Sydney, 10.3 percent in Melbourne and 22.3 percent in Fremantle. Pass in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 15.6 percent and 10.4 percent respectively. 1,821 bales (3.6 percent) were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered wools made up 10.1 percent of this week's offering.
When looked at in other currencies, the AWEX EMI decreased by 19c (2.2 percent) in US terms and by 4c (-0.6 percent) in Euro terms when compared with the previous sale. The changes in the EMI in the US and Euro currencies since mid October are now 272 USc (+49.1 percent) and 179 Euro cents (+40.5 percent). The EMI in US terms (826c) is 131c above the 2002/03 peak of 695c.
In a two day sale, the AWEX EMI fell by 11c on Wednesday and by 2c on Thursday. The Western Indicator dropped by 27c on Wednesday, after the two-week break, and by 3c on Thursday.
Although easing again, the market remains above where it was four weeks ago in Australian, the US and Euro currency. The biggest changes were seen at the fine end in the North on Wednesday, as these wools gave up some more of the post-Easter gains and in the 19.5 to 22 micron range in the South yesterday.
Overall, 16.5, 19 and 19.5 average MPGs eased by around 30c, while others were down in the order of 15 to 20c. Skirtings generally finished on a firm or slightly upward note after easing in the North and the West on Wednesday. Oddments were in good demand yesterday after being reported as irregular on Wednesday. Crossbred average MPGs came back by around 15c.
A major unknown this week is the news from China that a major algal bloom on Taihu Lake has resulted in the closure of a number of scouring plants in the area and whether it had any impact on the market.
Nevertheless, the main buyers were for China with a strong presence of buyers for Italy among the fine wools. Sales will be held in Sydney and Melbourne only next week, when 26,850 bales are currently rostered for sale. Current estimates for the remaining two sales (including Sale 1 of next season) before the general recess vary from 53,200 to 57,045, a decrease of 16.6 percent over the three sale period when compared with last year.
In the last South African sale before their recess, the Cape Wools Indicator fell by 2 percent over the two weeks since the previous sale, against fall of 1.3 percent in the US exchange rate and a fall of 0.2 percent in the Euro exchange rate.