AUCTION wool prices fell across the Merino and crossbred micron ranges in Australia this week, in the last sales before a one-week Easter break.

The Australian Wool Exchange said the softer tone evident in the stand-alone Melbourne sale at the end of the previous auction series carried into this week, pushing prices lower across all sectors.

The benchmark AWEX Eastern Market Indicator closed the week down 18 cents at 1300c/kg clean, and brokers passed in 13.7 percent of the 46,250 bales offered.

“On the opening day it was immediately apparent that that the prices on offer were well below those achieved in the previous sales, particularly in Sydney and Fremantle, as these centres did not suffer the losses felt in Melbourne on Thursday last week.

“The major falls were in the Merino fleece types and by the end of the day the individual Micron Price Guides (MPGs) for Merino fleece had dropped by between 4 and 49 cents, AWEX said.

“The only exception was the 17 and 17.5 micron MPGs in Melbourne which were unchanged and +3 respectively.

“These reductions were the impetus behind the AWEX Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) dropping by 12 cents for the day,” AWEX said.

“On the second day, the market fell again, although the falls were relatively minimal.

“The MPGs movements ranged between +5 and -18 cents.”

AWEX said currency again played a large part in the market movements of the auction series.

“A strengthening Australian dollar meant that when viewed in US dollar terms the market performed more robustly.

“The EMI lost only US3 cents for the series,” AWEX said.

“The last time the EMI was at this point was back in December.

“The EMI is now 69 cents lower than where is sat in the corresponding sale of the 2022/23 season.”

The market now heads into a one-week recess. Sales will resume in the week beginning Monday the 17th of April, with wool continuing to accumulate over the break, Week 42 is expected to be a large sale. Currently, more than 54,000 bales are scheduled to be offered nationally.

Click here to read the latest AWEX Micron Prices Guides.

Source – AWEX.