Markets

Auction wool prices are a tale of three markets this week

Sheep Central, May 19, 2017

MERINO wool auction price trends varied across Australia this week; falling in Melbourne, while rising in Fremantle and holding relatively firm in Sydney.

AWEX senior market analyst Lionel Plunkett said the southern market experienced more corrections with most types and descriptions, suffering decreases of 15-30 cents, resulting in a drop in the regional Indicator of 21 cents for the week.

“The northern market was relatively firm, with most types and descriptions trading within 5-10 cents of the prices achieved at the previous sale, which was reflected in a slight drop in the northern indicator of 3 cents.

“The Western Market Indicator went against the trend of the eastern states and actually managed to record an 8-cent rise,” he said.

“This was mainly due to the majority of the offering being 20 micron and coarser, with these types generally enjoying rises of between 10 and 15 cents for the week.”

Mr Plunkett said due to the large falls in the southern region, the benchmark Eastern Market Indicator dropped another 12 cents to close the week at 1522c/kg clean.

“Although the EMI recorded losses, it actually recorded a rise in US$ terms, an 8-cent lift in fact due to the fall in the Australian dollar.”

Brokers passed in 8.3 percent of the 35,020 bale offering.

Mr Plunkett said the skirting market was driven by vegetable matter content again this week, with lots with less than 3pc vm generally 10-20 cents dearer, while wools with higher vm levels were irregular tending cheaper.

“The crossbred market experienced mixed results, with 26 micron and finer generally rising 5 to 10 cents, while 28 micron and coarser fell by 10 to 15 cents.”

He said the limited selection of oddments was fully firm for the week.

Mr Plunkett said there is anecdotal evidence coming from brokers that the amount of wool being received into store has greatly reduced over the past fortnight, which was evident from the Five Week Forecast.

“We have a similar quantity next sale then bale numbers are expected to quickly decline.”

Click here for the latest AWEX Micron Price Guides.

Source: AWEX.

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