The main southern hemisphere wool exporters (from west to east; South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Uruguay) are by default the major suppliers of merino wool to the supply chain. This article takes a look at the total supply of merino wool from these countries by micron, filtering the volumes for non-mulesed and RWS accreditation.
There is some guesswork, or more politely, assumptions, in developing merino volumes by country by micron. For South Africa Cape Wools auction data which specifies merino is used, see article: South African merino clip update. For Australia AWTA data is divided using auction data breed proportions. New Zealand has become tricky, (see article: New Zealand merino clip), as the old fine wool export category, which was used as measure of merino wool now has a significant proportion of non-merino in it. The Argentine FLA export data, broken down into micron categories, is used assuming merino wool stops around 24 micron, see article: Argentine wool clip. Uruguay production is a challenge to measure as a lot of wool is imported, processed and exported in addition to not all local wool being measured, or at least the measurements being available.
Figure 1 shows a breakup of the southern hemisphere merino clip by micron (14 to 24 micron) with each micron category split into Australia and other (the other exporters). For each micron category the proportion accounted for by Australia is shown in orange. For example, Australia accounts for 82% of the 18-micron supply, with the proportion dropping away for the 20 micron and broader categories. Overall, Australia accounts for around 77% of the clean merino production from the southern hemisphere exporters. The 18- and 19-micron categories are the largest categories by volumes with 44-46 mkg clean each.
In Figure 2 the volume data is filtered for non-mulesed wool. Mecardo looked at this topic for Australian volumes in early January (see article: Australian Merino wool supply by mules status). When filtered for non-mulesed the Australian proportion of merino production falls to around 39%. Australian production accounts for nearly half (48%) of the 18-micron category volume. The proportion is higher for sub-18-micron wool (80-90% for 14-15 micron) and much lower proportions for 19-micron and broader wool.
Using Textile Exchange proportions for 2024, see report here: Textile Exchange, and applied to 2025 volumes estimates, Figure 3 shows the micron distribution of RWS accredited merino wool from the southern hemisphere main exporters. In total, Australia accounts for one third (34%) of the supply of RWS accredited merino wool, with the 17-micron category having the highest proportion at 52%. Australia supplies a very small proportion of 21-micron and broader merino wool. Again, the Australian proportions for the finer micron categories are much higher.
While Australia remains the main merino producer by a large margin, when mules status and RWS accreditation is overlaid, Australia falls back to the pack in terms of supply.
What does it mean?
It is no great secret that the wool industry is under great stress from competition for farm resources. This competition holds in most regions from Inner Mongolia to Uruguay to Australasia and beyond. It is shrinking. In Australia there have been some developments such as the Australian Wool Traceability Hub which is laying out the framework for improved traceability and transparency – all required ingredients for marketing with quality schemes. In the meantime, regions outside of Australia have moved in advance of the Australian farmers in adapting the new requirements by the supply chain. We need to work with them to ensure our industry, albeit smaller, is profitable.
Key Points
- Overall Australia accounts for around three quarters of merino production in the major southern hemisphere wool producers.
- When mules status and RWS accreditation is taken into account the Australian proportion falls to 30-40%.
- These proportions vary widely between fine and broad merino wool.
Click on figure to expand
Click on figure to expand
Click on figure to expand
Data sources: Cape Wools, Beef+Lamb NZ, NZWTA, FLA, Delta, SUL, INIA, Estanicia Puppo,TE, ICS, Mecardo
