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Steady market with fine wool the driver

The tone of this week’s market was one of stability, with AWEX reporting the market posted another small increase. The finer end of the market was the strongest performer, although solid demand was reported across all merino types.

The Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) gained 5ȼ for the week to close at 1,346ȼ. The Australian dollar was again slightly easier, again drifting downwards by 0.5 cents with the US/Au rate quoted at US$0.717. The EMI in US dollar terms was down slightly, falling 3ȼ to settle at 965ȼ. 

The Melbourne 16.5 MPG lifted 20ȼ, while the 19 MPG remained as per last week improving just 2ȼ and the 21 MPG again lifted, this week by 8ȼ.

Fremantle also posted a lift this week, but the driver of the market came from the 19.5 MPG and broader, while the finer end of the merino section eased marginally. AWEX reported the Western Market Indicator (WMI) lifted 4ȼ cents to 1405ȼ. Fremantle sold 7,348 of the 7,841 bales offered with a low 6.3% of offered bales passed in.

The national offering again was slightly larger with 39,577 bales offered, 1,800 more than last week. The national pass-in rate was 10.0%, which resulted in 35,616 bales sold, which was 729 more than last week.

The crossbred indicators were marginally easier, with the 28 MPG quoted down 8ȼ while the 30 MPG gave up 5ȼ.

Cardings were steady on last week’s quotes.

Crossbred wool prices have been at record low levels for this season. On Mecardo this week (view article here), Andrew Woods looked at the price relationship between crossbred wool and acrylic prices. The 28 MPG has dropped to below parity with acrylic staple fibre prices, an unprecedented level in 33 years. Since early 2020, the 28 MPG and acrylic staple fibre prices have diverged markedly. In relative terms, as well as outright terms, the 28 MPG is extraordinarily cheap and hopefully this will spark some new demand.

The week ahead….

Next week a similar offering of 41,362 bales is listed for sale in Fremantle, Melbourne & Sydney with all centres selling on Tuesday & Wednesday.

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Data sources: AWEX, AWI, Mecardo

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