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The wool market gains of last week evaporated this week with the market retracing all of the gains of the short-lived rally. The falls were widespread, with the exception of 17 MPG & finer in Melbourne that posted increases, and also selected good style low CVH which were reported as “keenly sought”.

The Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) fell, losing 32ȼ to 1224ȼ/kg, and with a stronger Aussie dollar (-0.59ȼ to US$0.669), the EMI when expressed in US$ also declined 14ȼ to settle at 820ȼ/kg (US).

The Western Market Indicator also fell in line with the east coast market, falling 38ȼ to finish the week at 1,370ȼ/kg.

The Crossbreds section is in the doldrums, and to reinforce this situation the 28 MPG in Sydney touched 313ȼ during the week, its lowest point on record. In Melbourne 26 MPG lost 24ȼ, while the 30 MPG eased 7ȼ across the week.

Cardings were generally steady, down 4ȼ in Sydney, back 3ȼ in Melbourne and steady in Fremantle.

An increased volume to last week of 37,374 was offered for sale, almost 7,000 up on last week. After 3.3% of the original rostered offering was withdrawn prior to sale, the pass-in rate rose as a result of the weaker market, lifting to 17.9% of the offering, as a result, 30,955 bales were sold, just 500 more than last week.

This week on Mecardo, Andrew Woods looked at while the merino market has come off the boil since mid-2022, as have apparel fibre markets generally, the very fine end of the merino micron distribution continues to sell at high price levels. Structurally, the merino market for these finer merino micron categories has changed dramatically since the 1990s, with much-increased supply driving prices much lower from the mid-1990s through 2005-2010. The structural change was common to all of the finer micron categories. Who says the wool market does not change?

The week ahead….

Next week sales have rostered an even larger offering of 44,775 bales for sale across the three selling centres. Fremantle & Sydney are selling on Tuesday & Wednesday, while Melbourne will have a three-day sale to cater for the increased offering.

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Data sources: AWEX, Mecardo

Photo Credit: Clare Offley “Cleaning Up”

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