ONLINE wool sales shrunk last week, as the large volume on offer at physical auctions finally took its toll, Wooltrade market operations supervisor Tom Rookyard said.

Mr Rookyard said the AWEX Eastern Market Indicator’s loss of 28 cents last week to close at 1303 cents clean was the market’s lowest point since early October.

The Western Australian wool market also took a tumble, with its indicator losing 30 cents to 1363 cents.

Mr Rookyard said only 34 bales of wool were sold on Wooltrade last week. The top-priced line online last week was seven bales of 17.2 micron fleece wool that sold for 1095c/kg greasy, or 1647c/kg clean. The line yielded 66.5 percent with an average staple length of 77mm, a tensile strength of 37 Newtons/kilotex and 0.6pc vegetable matter content.

An eight-bale line of 18.3 micron fleece sold for 1140c/kg greasy or 1610c/kg clean with a yield of 70.8pc, an average staple length of 100mm, a tensile strength of 38N/kt and 0.4pc vm.

A 14-bale line of 20.3 micron fleece wool made 842c/kg greasy or 1408c/kg clean. It had a yield of 59.8pc, with a mean staple length of 84mm, a tensile strength of 39N/kt and 0.8pc vm.

Mr Rookyard said more than 50,000 bales will be offered at all three AWEX selling centres this week.

“The volume will once again test the market.

“However, the following weeks only have a projected 45,000 and 43,000 bales leading into December,” he said.

“The looming US election also has the potential to impact on the wool market.

“The $A-US dollar exchange rate, no doubt, will see some movement as America elects their next president.”

Click here for the latest Wooltrade Top Prices Summary.

Source: Wooltrade.