AUSTRALIAN wool growers and brokers passed in or withdrew more than a quarter of the bales catalogued for sale in auctions this week as prices dropped lower.

AWEX senior market analyst Lionel Plunkett said nearly every sector of the market recorded losses this week.

“The total national offering reduced to 36,332 bales after 7.1 percent of the selection was withdrawn prior to sale,” he said.

Brokers subsequently passed in a further 19.7pc of the offering as the benchmark AWEX Eastern Market Indicator dropped 30 cents to 1159c/kg clean.

“Compared to the corresponding sale of the previous season, there has been 10,593 fewer bales put through the auction system, a 1.8pc reduction,” Mr Plunkett said.

“The bulk of the losses were felt on the first day of selling.

“The individual merino Micron Price Guides (MPGs) across the country reduced by between 11 and 52 cents,” he said.

“These losses combined with falls in the other sectors, resulted in a 28-cent drop in the AWEX Eastern Market Indicator (EMI).

“The second selling day the market steadied, with minimal further price reductions combined with price rises in some MPGs,” Mr Plunkett said.

“The losses were between 5 and 8 cents, whilst the increases ranged between 2 and 26 cents.

“Mainly due to further losses in the skirting and crossbred sectors, the EMI fell again for the day, dropping another 2 cents.”

Mr Plunkett said the EMI’s losses equated to a 2.5pc fall for the week.

“Due to minimal currency movement this week, the fall in the EMI in US dollar terms was very similar (2.7pc).”

Mr Plunkett said unlike the fleece, the Merino skirtings reduced over both days, generally closing the week at price levels 50 to 60 cents below those achieved in the previous sale.

“The crossbred sector recorded the largest losses (in percentage terms) for the series.

“In the South the 28 micron MPG dropped 52 cents (an 8pc fall), 30 micron lost 44 cents (9pc) and 32 micron fell by 20 cents (7pc),” he said.

The oddments followed a similar path to the fleece, losses on the first day, followed by minimal positive movement on the second. Next week national offering rises, there is currently 41,527 bales available to the trade in Melbourne, Fremantle and Sydney (which is a designated Superfine sale).

AuctionsPlus sells 364 bales

AuctionsPlus sold 364 bales of wool on its offer board after a quiet start to the week.

The top priced lot online was a 15.7 micron Merino fleece best seed line with an average staple length of 98mm and 0.3 percent vegetable matter content that made 1575c/kg greasy or 2103c/kg clean. The line was branded S.G. & A.E.B. It was offered by Beecher Wool Services. The 18 micron wool sold last week made up to 1100c/kg greasy or 1532c/kg clean and 19 micron fleece sold to 960c/kg greasy or 1387c/kg clean.

Click here to see the latest AWEX Micron price Guides.

Source – AWEX.