Scales balance to steady Wool

On balance, the Eastern Market Indicator finished this week down by the most minor margin of 1ȼ  to 1208ȼ/kg.  More movement was seen in the exchange rate with Aussie Dollar appreciating 2.85% to US 0.6680ȼ and resulting in a 22ȼ increase in the EMI when expressed in the US$.

Northern Markets on Tuesday started strongly across all micron price guides however momentum stalled on Wednesday as finer micron buyers became more focused on acquiring lower VM lots.  16.5MPG finished the week down 32ȼ to 2268 ȼ/kg on the back of this shift, other fine MPGs were also down slightly for the week such as 18MPG fell 7ȼ to 1780 ȼ/kg.   Medium and crossbred markets in Sydney did not stall the momentum, with 19.5 MPG up 17 ȼ to 1452 ȼ/kg and 28MPG up slightly to 300 ȼ/kg, a 2 ȼ increase.

Further South to Melbourne, which also had a great start to the week across the offering, found the going much tougher on Wednesday with all the majority of price guides down for the week. Similar VM-influenced issues were the cause of the easing market and were then exacerbated by sellers’ willingness to walk. The pass-in rate down south reached 18.4% on Wednesday.   17MPG was down 38 ȼ to 2040 ȼ/kg and 18MPG also fell 13 ȼ to 1745 ȼ/kg.   In broader markets, 21MPG was down 18 ȼ to 1335 ȼ/kg and for crossbreds, 32MPG sits 3 ȼ better at 240 ȼ/kg.

Sydney cardings improved 24 ȼ to 756 ȼ/kg and Melbourne cardings declined 3 ȼ to 735 ȼ/kg.

With Fremantle not selling this week there was a reduced national offering of 33,435 bales.  The pass-in rate nationally ended up at 13.1% for the week as 29,039 bales were sold.  

This week on Mecardo, Andrew Woods investigates Micron basis for certain MPGs (read here).  The ratio for the average wool price to MPG often reaches a low in the April/May period. Currently, average wool price rations to MPG’s are low by the standards of the past decade.