The Australian wool market finished 0.5 percent higher, on average, at sales in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle this week. The AWEX EMI rose by 9 A cents (0.9 percent), ending the week at 972 Ac a kg. This reflected increases of 7 Ac (0.7 percent) in the North and 10 Ac (1.1 percent) in the South, with their corresponding Regional Indicators finishing the week at 1011 Ac and 939 Ac clean, respectively.
The Western Indicator fell by 2 Ac (0.2 percent), finishing the week at 966 Ac. In a three day sale in Sydney and Melbourne, the AWEX EMI rose by 3 Ac on Tuesday, by 4 Ac on Wednesday and by 2 Ac on Thursday. The Western Indicator fell by 2 Ac on Wednesday and was unchanged on Thursday in a two day sale in Fremantle.
The difference between the East and the West reflected the absence of fine wools in the West. They outperformed the medium wools in the East this week. A total of 50,785 bales were on offer, compared with 50,251 bales last week, of which 11.4 percent were passed in, comprised of 8.1 percent in Sydney, 9.9 percent in Melbourne and 20.0 percent in Fremantle.
Pass-in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 10.4 percent and 12.8 percent, respectively. A total of 2,463 bales (4.6 percent) were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered bales made up 14.7 percent of this week's offering.
It was a good week with overall gains particularly at the fine end, where strong demand for a small offering saw gains of 54 Ac in the AWEX 17.0 micron MPG on Thursday and increases from 58 Ac down to 28 Ac for 17.5 to 18.5 microns. The AWEX AMI moved upwards for the first time since peaking at 1045 Ac in the last week in January.
Average AWEX Micron Price Guides (MPGs) were up by 16 Ac clean for 16.5 microns, by 39 Ac for 17.0 microns, by 43 Ac for 17.5 microns, by 41 Ac for 18.0 microns, by 28 Ac for 18.5 microns, by 13 Ac for 19.0 microns and by 15 Ac for 19.5 microns.
The 20.0 micron wool average MPG was up by 11 Ac, 21.0 microns by 1 Ac, 22.0 microns was down by 1 Ac, 23.0 microns was unchanged, and 24.0 microns was up by 8 Ac. Skirtings were generally unchanged or up in the North and the South, but down in the West, with better types in keener demand. Oddments had a mixed week, with the AWEX Merino Cardings average MPG falling by 1 Ac. Crossbreds were down at the fine end but showed small increases among the medium and coarse wools. Buyers for China were dominant with good support from those buying for India.
Sales will be held in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle next week, when 55,731 bales are currently rostered for sale. Present estimates for the following two sales vary from 40,130 (Sydney and Melbourne only) to 59,900 bales, a decrease of 3.2 percent over the three sale period when compared with last year.
In South African sales, the Cape Wools Indicator was up by 2.6 percent since last week against a 4.5 percent depreciation of the Rand against the US Dollar and 5.6 percent depreciation against the Euro. AWTA's sampling data shows the weight of wool sampled in the July to February period was 7.8 percent below that of the same period last year, but slightly better than last month's decline of 8.6 percent.