Shorn wool in heap in shearing shed

The wool market returned from its three-week Christmas break making a very strong start to 2025. The market was assisted by a weaker AU dollar which encouraged predictions of a good market opening. This was certainly confirmed with buyers stepping up to a relatively large catalogue.

AWEX reported that from the opening bids were stronger across the range, with the benchmark Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) recording 34¢ rise on Tuesday and holding a further 2¢ lift on the final day to close at 1190 cents. This places the EMI at its highest level since January 2024.

In US$ terms, a 7¢ lift for the week reflected the AU$ falling 1.36 cents against the US$ compared to the last sale of 2024.

All Merino MPGs improved, with rises of 40 to 50¢ compared to the last sale last year.

Fremantle followed suit with the Western Market Indicator (WMI) lifting 41¢, with individual Merino MPG posting 46 to 59¢ lifts.

Crossbreds were not to be outdone, performing strongly with price rises across the MPG range on both sale days. The 26 MPG ended up 35¢ to 585¢, while the 32 MPG lifted a more modest 12¢ to 320¢.

The regional carding indicators rose by 5 and 29¢ in Sydney and Melbourne respectively, with Fremantle also stronger lifting 24¢ for the week.

Of the 44,434 bales offered, 42,537 were eventually sold, with a pass-in rate of 4.3% nationally. This was 9,700 bales more than the last sale and 10,000 bales more than the weekly average for the season to date. As a show of strength, this week was the first selling week since April last year when more than 40,000 bales were cleared to the trade.

This week on Mecardo, Andrew Woods looks at the recent Australian Wool Production Forecasting Committees (AWPFC) wool forecast and delves into the other wool-producing nations’ forward estimates for production. This is timely, as the wool market seems poised for some improvement. However, any shortage of supply is likely to increase market volatility.

Next week

Next week’s sales will occur over two days, with 48,930 bales currently rostered for sale. This will test the market rally, with early reports suggesting the rally this week may be too strong. Some form of correction is likely coming next week.

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Click on graph to expand

Click on graph to expand

Data sources: AWEX, AWI, Mecardo

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fine wool 14 micron closeup
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