Mecardo Market increase on solid demand

The positive signs noted towards the end of last week delivered an increase in the wool market this week on the back of solid demand. The softer Au$ was a factor, but also noted in the AWEX report was the very strong bidding for specialty non-mulesed types attracting significant premiums over other types.

The Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) lifted 16ȼ to 1,368ȼ. The Australian dollar was almost 1ȼ lower to settle at US$0.725, which resulted in the EMI, in US dollar terms, hardly moving, posting a 1ȼ gain to settle at 992ȼ.

Last week Fremantle had a positive end to the week, so it was slightly more subdued this week than the eastern states with the Western Market Indicator (WMI) gaining 5ȼ cents to 1397ȼ. Fremantle sold 4,195 bales with a 9% pass-in rate.

It appears the market is comfortable with the level of supply coming forward, with the last 3 weeks a steady flow circa 30,000 bales have been cleared to the trade with a relatively stable EMI hovering around the 1350 to 1370 mark. Over this three-week period the pass-in rate has fluctuated between 9.3 & 12.7%, well below the average for the season to date of 17.55%.

Again, the offering was slightly larger compared to last week, with 35,745 bales offered, 1,208 more. A slightly lower pass-in rate of 9.3% eventuated, resulting in 32,405 bales selling, 2264 more than last week. The average clearance of bales per week for the season to date is 32,0129.

The merino fleece Micron Price Guides (MPGs) posted a rise this week of between 3 & 60ȼ. In Melbourne the 16.5 MPG was up 51ȼ, and the 17.5 MPG lifted 60ȼ. Medium types also gained with the 21 MPG +23ȼ, while the benchmark 19 MPG lifted 22ȼ in Melbourne.

The crossbred indicators recorded small losses, with the 26, 30 & 32 MPG all down 3ȼ while the 28 MPG eased by 7ȼ.

Cardings were all dearer except in Fremantle which gave back 10ȼ, while in Melbourne the indicator improved 26ȼ and 21ȼ in Sydney.

This week on Mecardo (view article here), Andrew Woods looks at the supply of crossbred wool. Despite anecdotal commentary, the proportion of crossbred wool in the Australian clip stopped rising around a decade ago. This is a good thing as the last thing the crossbred wool market needs at present is increasing structural supply.

When looked at by region, the proportion of crossbred wool varies greatly, with south Victoria, south east South Australia and Tasmania having the highest proportions.