Wool bales

The Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) posted a strong lift to breach the 1400ȼ/kg clean barrier for the first time since July 2022. The EMI is now just 1.5% below the same time last year and is at the second-highest level it has been so far this season. This was despite a much larger offering coming forward and a reduced pass-in rate.

This week the EMI increased 44ȼ to 1400ȼ/kg. The Australian dollar was down slightly to US$0.69, resulting in the EMI when expressed in US$ terms pushing 20ȼ/kg higher to 976ȼ/kg (US).

A large national offering did not dampen demand on Tuesday with significant rises in all MPGs (some upwards of 90 cents) at all three centres. Wednesday produced mixed results, with a surge in the crossbred sector. Merino MPGs fell away slightly on Thursday.

The Western Market had a strong week with all categories up significantly. The Western Market Indicator (WMI) increase 60ȼ to finish the week at 1570ȼ/kg.

Crossbreds had another positive week.  The 26 MPG in Sydney increased 42ȼ to 618ȼ/kg, while the 30 mpg in Melbourne lifted 15ȼ to 315ȼ/kg.

Cardings were again stronger this week, improving by 12ȼ in Sydney, and up 32ȼ Melbourne and Fremantle dearer by 29ȼ.

The national offering surged this week with 49,324 bales offered, a healthy 10,808-bale increase from last week. With a pass-in rate of 5.7%, 46,509 bales were sold (10,523 bales more than last week). This compares favourably with the weekly average for the season to date (35,500 bales).

This week on Mecardo, Andrew Woods investigates the relationship between the EMI and various merino-micron categories. Merino woolgrowers often use the Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) to monitor the greasy wool market. For decisions about specific categories or lots of wool, this is akin to looking at the share market All Ordinaries (All Ords) indicator to make a decision regarding a specific company’s share. AWEX publishes very useful MPGs to allow monitoring of specific micron categories, helping to make the Australian greasy wool market extremely transparent.

The week ahead….

Next week’s offering of 58,867 bales would have been seen as a challenging volume, however, with current demand the market remains optimistic. Tasmania will also hold its traditional February designated superfine sale in Melbourne next week.

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Data sources: AWEX, AWI,  Mecardo

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