Supply low, AUD strong & market positive

Clean wool fleece

While the Wednesday opening to the market was positive, Thursday saw a retracement to produce an overall cheaper market. The AUD was strong, hurting buyers buying capacity, while a concerning report was that there was insufficient supply of good yielding wool to fill orders. The flip side to this was that the large offering of low yielding wool weighed on the market with buyers struggling to fit it into orders.

The Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) gave back 12¢ this week to close at 1,171¢. The Australian dollar was quite strong hovering around US$0.70, with the EMI in USD terms falling by 8¢ to 813¢. With Fremantle back selling this week, the Western Market Indicator played a bit of “catch-up” finding an 8 cent lift to settle at 1,247¢.

Turnover increased to $25.02 million this week with all centres involved, however, the average bale value of $1,150 was $200 per bale back on last week, taking the season to date value to $1,922 million.

The softer market influenced a lift in the pass-in rate to 12.1% nationally, 5.4% higher than last week’s level. This resulted in 19,146 bales clearing, almost 5,000 more than last week.

This week on Mecardo, Andrew Woods looked at the sheep flock and noted “The Australian sheep flock has moved into an expansionary phase, based on early 2020 rainfall.” Of course, any continued expansion from here (and consequently changes on the sheep flock) will depend on winter/spring rainfall in the key sheep regions.

While Fremantle played catchup on last week’s sales, overall the market was cheaper, ending its two-week positive run. The Crossbred sector was the shining light rising against the general trend and supporting the EMI to some degree.

Cardings continued to improve also and posted on average a 14¢ lift average across the all centres.

Next week

Next week’s national offering declines to just 16,800 bales with Fremantle not offering. Sydney & Melbourne will sell on Tuesday & Wednesday only.

Have any questions or comments?

We love to hear from you!

Click on table to expand

Click on graph to expand

Click on graph to expand

Data sources: AWEX, Mecardo

Make decisions with confidence- ask about our board packs, bespoke forecasting and risk management services
Wool

Optimism a plenty

As reported last week, it felt like the wool market was stirring on the back of positive Chinese economic stimulus. This week it posted the

Read More »
Wool

Argentine Wool Clip

With full season data available for the Argentine wool clip, it is time to review the wool production of this member of the Southern Hemisphere

Read More »

Want market insights delivered straight to your inbox?

Sign up to the mailing list to get regular updates to new analysis and market outlooks

Independent analysis and outlook for wool, livestock and grain markets delivered to you as it’s published

Commodity conversations podcast cover image, a illustration of a sheep standing on a cow's back with grain either side
Listen to the podcast

Join the Mecardo team for the Commodity Conversations podcast, where we provide short weekly market recaps and longer conversations with guests to discuss the drivers and trends in livestock, grain and fibre markets.

Photo of a farmer surrounded by Merino sheep in dusty yards
Research: Analysis of the Australian sheep flock

In this report for LiveCorp and MLA, we analysed the historical trends in the demographics of the Australian sheep flock, examining domestic factors that influence farm-level enterprise decision making. 

Image of harvested grain pouring into a chaser bin
SERVICES AND CAPABILITIES STATEMENT BROCHURE

We don’t just bring you the most up to date market insights. Find out more about Mecardo’s services including risk management advisory, modelling, benchmarking, research & consultancy.