MORE wool growers decided to hold clips back this week as auctions prices slumped for most Merino and crossbred wool categories.

The Australian Wool Exchange said the positive movements and buoyant tone experienced during last week’s auction sales has been short-lived, with the market retracting this week.

“The higher prices on offer during the previous series encouraged more sellers to the market, pushing the national offering up to 37,347 bales, 4054 bales more than the previous week,” AWEX said.

However, reacting to weaker buyer interest, growers’ brokers passed in 17.1 percent of the offering.

“On the first day of selling buyer sentiment was noticeably more subdued than in the previous series, this translated into lower prices.

“Across the three regions, the individual Micron Price Guides (MPGs) for Merino fleece wool had fallen by between 4 and 44 cents, the only exception was the 17 micron MPG in the south which gained 4 cents and the 20 and 21 micron MPGs in the north which remained unchanged,” AWEX said.

“These losses combined with reductions in the crossbred and skirting sectors resulted in a 17-cent fall in the AWEX Eastern Market Indicator (EMI).

“The second day was almost a carbon copy of the first. Prices were again reduced as buyers attempted to find value in the falling market,” AWEX said.

“The MPGs lost a further 4 to 30 cents, with one exception, this time the 17 micron MPG in the south which managed a 10-cent rise.

“The EMI lost a total of 32 cents for the week, closing at 1224 cents a kg clean, and the EMI is now at its lowest point since January 2021,” AWEX said.

AWEX said the total dollar amount sold this season has nearly reached the billion dollar mark.

“There was $46.04 million worth of wool sold nationally this week, pushing the total amount this season to $996 million.

“At the corresponding sale of the 2021/22 season this figure was $1021 million,” AWEX said.

“A noteworthy event happened in the north this week, the 28 micron MPG dropped to 313 cents, its lowest point on record on Tuesday.”

Next week’s national offering rises again. Currently, there is expected to be 44,775 bales on offer.

Click here for the latest AWEX Micron Price Guides.

Source: AWEX.