Seasonal pattern in wool prices works again
The greasy wool market opened the New Year with a bang last week, as it does occasionally. This article takes a look at the opening price rise and how it sits with past behaviour in the market. Wool, as part of the greater apparel fibre market complex, tends to follow the general path of apparel […]
Australian merino wool supply by mules status
Wool production and supply tends to be reported on a gross basis, which smooths over differences due to breed and other quality factors (such as fibre diameter). With this in mind, this article takes a look at Australian auction sales, as a proxy for supply, for merino wool by mulesing status. Beginning in 2008–2009, wool […]
2025 in wool
With the last wool auction sales being held this week in Australia, and South Africa auctions already in recess, it is timely to look at how the greasy wool market finished 2025 compared to a year ago. For merino wool, there was little movement in price for the first half of 2025, with an abrupt […]
The New Zealand wool clip
In Australia, we tend to focus on our domestic wool production and changes to it in terms of volume and quality. Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand has traditionally been the great carpet wool producer, and they too have been experiencing major changes in wool production in recent decades, which this article takes a look […]
Non-mulesed and pain relief levels by state
Given the latest round of debate about mulesing and pain relief, Mecardo has used wool sale data as a guide to the levels of non-mulesing and pain relief in the flock by state in the twelve months to November, updating a recent article published in June. The data used in this article are sourced from […]
Weekly offerings and the EMI
Commentary on the greasy wool market often revolves around the volume of wool offered for sale in Australia, and a recent question to Mecardo asked specifically about the possible effects on price of low offerings in the lead-up to the Christmas recess. This article takes a look at the relationship between weekly offer volumes and […]
High staple strength premiums
After last week’s article on low staple strength, a question was asked about high staple strength supply and premiums, the corollary to low staple strength. We look at this in the article below. The range or distribution of staple strength, while not strictly a bell shape or normal, is close enough to assume that as […]
Staple strength in the eastern Australian states
The wool supply chain operates on averages for expected production in terms of quality. Quality varies through the season normally, with staple strength and vegetable matter being stand-out examples. Due to wool being grown in a biological system, quality occasionally varies from the average, and therefore the expected price usually reacts. This seems to be […]
Wool supply update
Greasy wool supply is top of mind in the upper stages of the supply chain as mills balance low stocks, potential increases in demand, and falling production. This article takes a look at the latest AWTA core test volume data with this in mind. AWTA core test volumes had been running 18% down year on […]
Enough about wool, what about cotton?
After rebounding strongly in 2021–22 from COVID lows, cotton prices have fallen and drifted along at low levels in recent years. This article takes a look at cotton stocks-to-use, price ratios, and compound growth rates of the key staple fibres as background to the cotton (and wool) market. Mecardo looked at the cotton market in […]
Fine merino micron premiums
The fine end of the Merino market has been split between strong 15-micron and finer prices, and relatively weak 16–17-micron prices. This weakness in the 16–17-micron range has been softened by recent price rises. Given the varied nature of fine micron premiums, it seems timely to take a closer look at them. Figure 1 shows […]
Economic backdrop to the greasy wool market
With the rise in wool prices in the past month, a logical question is how much of the rise is due to improved demand and how much is due to restricted supply? This article takes a look at the economic backdrop to the market, in effect, the demand side of the market. Wool production has […]