Quality schemes & low VM wool attracts strong bidding

The EMI lifted by 1ȼ on last week to close at 1,421ȼ. The Australian dollar fell by 0.31ȼ with the AUD quoted at US$0.7183. This resulted in the EMI in US dollar terms moving down by 4 cents to settle at 1021ȼ.

The Western Market Indicator lifted by another 8ȼ to finish the week at 1458ȼ, with all indicators lifting between 2 to 26ȼ bar cardings which fell by 5ȼ. Fremantle sold over 1000 fewer bales this week compared to last, passing in 19.2% of the offering.

In Sydney and Melbourne, the finer types performed strongest with all indicators 18.5 and finer posting gains.  17.5 MPG in Melbourne was the standout, lifting 21ȼ  on the week prior, to 2457ȼ/kg.

Medium type wool results were mixed, with the 19.5 & 20 MPG in Melbourne posting small gains of 7 & 2ȼ  respectively, whilst the others recorded small falls or stayed put. Cardings in Sydney lifted just 1ȼ but fell 2 cents in Melbourne & 5 cents in Fremantle.   

The national offering was initially expecting  50,142 bales but as reported by AWEX, 3.6% of the offering was withdrawn prior to sale. In the end, 46,338 bales were on offer with a national pass-in rate of 11.8%. This resulted in 40,848 bales sold, just shy of 3,500 bales less than the week prior.

On Mecardo this week (view article here), Andrew Woods took a closer look at premiums for Responsible Wool Standard certified wool from South Africa and Australia. Interestingly, this week AWEX  reported “intense bidding for specialty Non-Mulesed wool” with premiums of 200+ cents, when compared to similar Mulesed lots. This matches up with Andrew’s analysis which calculates Australian Ceased-museled/Non-museled wool premiums have been on average 257 cents, whilst in South Africa, the premium has been 323 cents.