Sheep packed into loading pen on a farm with dark clouds above

The 38,904 bales offering this week proved too much for the market to absorb without a further price decline. This coupled with a fall in the exchange rate means that for overseas buyers, wools ‘bang for buck’ is now looking as good as it was in May.

It was hoped that the softer Australian dollar may cushion the market this week but that wasn’t the reality. The dollar ended sales at 0.654 US¢, down from 0.668 US¢ last week, yet the Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) still lost 6¢ over the period to 1,125¢/kg. In USD terms, the EMI is now at 736US¢. While we did see it dip below this in September briefly before that it was last at these levels in May. The 17.5-micron merino average price is back down to 920US¢, which is close to the main 900 support level of the past 15 years according to analysis by Andrew Woods.

 

While weakness was found across the entire Merino fleece segment, it was fibres 18.5MPG and under that saw double-digit losses. That was for all bar the 16.5MPG in Melbourne which experienced more tepid declines. Merino skirtings that were well-prepared noted a bounce in price and the crossbred sector made some reasonable gains. The 28MPG in Melbourne and 30MPG in Sydney came out most favourable in terms of week-on-week price movements, both gaining an extra 10¢ from start to finish. The 28MPG in Sydney is currently 6% higher year on year in AUD terms and up 9% in USD.

 

Growers showed a bit more resistance to the results at auction, lifting the pass-in rate by 1.5 percentage points to 9.6%. This left 35,187 bales sold to the trade which was 12% under the same week last year.  

Next week

The last two seasons have seen prices rally in November so let’s hope that’s a trend that continues. If we do see the dollar remain at current levels, there are reasonable grounds for this to be the case. But with the US Presidential election next week, we could be in store for a bit of currency volatility.

Next week’s offering is currently rostered at 37,991 bales with sales on Tuesday and Wednesday in Sydney and Freemantle, and Wednesday and Thursday in Melbourne to account for the Melbourne Cup.

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Click on graph to expand

Click on graph to expand

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Data sources: Nutrien Ag Solutions, AWEX, ICS , Mecardo

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