Mecardo Wool bounces on

This week only Sydney & Melbourne offered, with AWEX reporting that the EMI rose for the fourth consecutive week, with “every sector posting rises.” The MPG indicators 18 MPG & finer All sit above 2000 cents, the last time this occurred was in mid-August 2019.

The Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) added 50¢ this week to finish at 1,393¢. In US dollar terms with the Aussie dollar holding steady at US$0.774, the EMI in US¢ gained a further 38¢ to 1,078¢.

Again, the fine end of the clip was the stand-out, with the 16.5 to 18 MPG gaining 73 to 115 cents, while the 18 to 22 MPG lifted 18 to 75 cents.

It is difficult not to continue to focus on the fine wool price relative to the medium Merino types, it seems a new highlight appears each week. As an example, the average price premium of fine & superfine wool compared to the average MPG of the wool clip has now surpassed the previous 1988 peak.

The Crossbreds section also improved, gaining between 7 & 26 cents. It was significant that following 6 weeks of falling prices, the 32 MPG’s posted the largest rise in percentage terms, lifting 25 cents or 11.7%.

Cardings followed the market up with prices improving 29¢ in Sydney & 28¢ in Melbourne.

With Fremantle not participating, almost 4,000 bales fewer came forward with 34,811 bales offered this week after 5.0% of the original offering was withdrawn. With the lowest pass-in rate for 2021 of 4.1%, 34,811 bales were cleared to the trade, just 900 bales fewer than last week. The average weekly clearance for the season to date sits at 34,112 bales, almost 7,000 bales per week more than 2019-20 season.

This week on Mecardo, Andrew Woods looked at crossbred wool prices to explore the factors contributing to the wide range of prices paid for a given combination or category, staple length and fibre diameter. Breed and preparation appear to be heavily influencing values leading to these wide ranges in price.

The week ahead….

Next week an increased offering of 45,341 bales are rostered with Fremantle returning to the roster. All centres are selling on Wednesday & Thursday. Its difficult to see any pull-back in prices based on the strengthening sales across this week.