AUCTIONSPLUS Wool sold 221 bales of wool online last week, as prices fell sharply across all types and microns in the physical auction market last week.

AuctionsPlus technical operations officer Matt Cotton said movement of goods globally has become increasingly challenging and companies are looking to cut costs where possible.

“Australian Wool Innovation has reported that Chinese buyers feared the Australian wool industry may go into lockdown, which spurred stronger buying activity in the previous week.

“With auctions continuing for the foreseeable future, these speculations may have been incorrect, and buyers may have met their short-term fill as a result,” he said.

He said last week’s auctions had noticeably less buyer activity, with price falls of more than 150 cents for most types. Fleece wool of 18 microns in Fremantle fell by 220 cents to finish at 1508c/kg clean and the AWEX Eastern Market Indicator dropped by a staggering 10.8 percent or 155 cents to finish the week at 1287c/kg.

“In US$ terms, the EMI dropped 7.8pc or US67 cents to finish at US788c/kg clean.

“The high passed-in rate of 44.9pc demonstrated the lack of demand, but also that many growers are not willing to sell at these levels,” Mr Cotton said.

The top price online went to a two-bale line of 16.1 micron SUPAAAA Merino fleece offered by Jemalong Wool that sold for 1400c/kg greasy or 1849c/kg clean. It was branded G/Sugarloaf.

AuctionsPlus Wool sold a three-bale line 17.2 micron wool for 1120c/kg greasy or 1575c/kg clean.

A seven-bale line of 18.9 micron wool sold to a top of 1010c greasy or 1530c/kg clean.

A seven-bale line of 19.2 micron wool sold to 1100c/kg greasy or 1447c/kg clean.

About 44,000 bales will be offered this week.

“The market has proven to be an unpredictable beast in recent times, and we will wait to see how the dynamic unfolds,” Mr Cotton said.