The wool market seems to be chugging along in a similar pattern to recent weeks, with bales cleared hovering around the 40k mark. In the AWEX report this week, it was noted that the difference in demand & price between sound, better style, and quality-assured wool types was again evident. AWEX also noted that the market was on track for consecutive weekly increases until the auctions lost ground on Thursday when only the Melbourne sales operated.
The Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) held at 1318 ȼ/kg, with no change on last week’s level. Whilst the Australian dollar moved marginally lower (down to 0.617 USȼ), the impacts were hardly felt in the wool market, as the EMI saw a 7ȼ decrease when expressed in $US, finishing the week at 881 USȼ/kg.
In Sydney, the 16.5 MPG fleece found favour on the back of a quality offering, gaining 25 ȼ to finish the week at 2375 ȼ/kg. The contrast though was in Melbourne where the 17 & 18 MPG indicators fell 27 & 23 ȼ respectively, as a high percentage of lower style and more tender wool came to market. Sydney fared better than Melbourne for the medium merino types, the 20 MPG indicator up 25ȼ while in Melbourne the market eased by 19ȼ to end the week at 1504 ȼ/kg.
The Western Market Indicator (WMI) had another strong week, it closed the week at 1480ȼ/kg, an increase of 18ȼ on the back of a similar rise last week.
Crossbred markets were weaker this week, with the 28 MPG fleece in Melbourne down 14ȼ to 338 ȼ/kg.
Eastern market cardings were down 6 ȼ and 10 ȼ in Sydney (859¢) and Melbourne (878¢) respectively. The west held solid, down just 1ȼ to finish the week at 871¢.
Again, a large offering of 44,145 bales was offered to the trade, however, with a pass-in rate of 10.6% resulted in the weekly clearance of 39,483 bales: an increase of 2534 more bales than last week.
This week on Mecardo, Andrew Woods explores the variation in wool production by region and how this can help to better understand wool production and its relation to variations in seasonal conditions. Average wool specifications for the calendar year 2022 have been uniform across the regions apart from fibre diameter, which is structurally different, as is the seasonally driven vegetable matter content.
The week ahead….
Next week (week 40) has 52,724 bales scheduled for auction. This is the largest volume for some time, and while there are likely to be withdrawals before the auction, this volume will test the market.
Click on graph to expand
Click on graph to expand
Click on graph to expand
Data sources: AWEX, AWI, Mecardo
