AUSTRALIAN wool prices faltered under a flood of clips into auctions this week, with the market suffering its largest daily drop in five months on opening.

The Australian Wool Exchange said this week’s auctions featured another substantial offering with 49,905 bales, following closely behind the nearly 50,884 bales offered in the previous sale.

“Those two weeks have kicked off a sizeable start to 2024 with over 100,000 bales offered, marking it the largest starting fortnight to a calendar year in four years.

“The market struggled to sustain the positive momentum observed in the opening sale; over the course of three selling days this week the AWEX-EMI registered a 17-cent decline, closing at 1196 cents,” AWEX said.

“The most significant drop in prices occurred on the opening day when there was a 16-cent reduction in the EMI, the largest daily fall in five months.

“The Merino Fleece sector weighed heavily on the outcome with the Micron Price Guides showing a decrease of as much as 50 cents,” AWEX said.

“Finer microns bore the brunt of the downturn while broader types generally saw reductions in the range of 10 to 20 cents.”

AWEX said despite the EMI showing no movement on Wednesday, a more positive atmosphere prevailed, marked by modest increases in Melbourne and Fremantle.

“The Melbourne-only sale on Thursday noted only minor fluctuations and all Micron Price Guides closed within five cents of the previous day’s values.”

AWEX said throughout the week there was a noticeable emphasis on better-specified wool, resulting in reduced demand for less-favourable types including those with high mid-break types.

“Merino skirtings reported mixed results with some of the better types maintaining good support while the lower spec types eased back.

“Crossbreds demonstrated resilience amid the weakness in the Merino sector, firming by 5 to 10 cents.”

AWEX said there was very little change in the Merino cardings, which closing the sale on a firm basis.

After a fortnight of large volumes, the number of bales rostered for the coming week stands at 41,733 bales over two days.

Click here to see the latest AWEX Micron Price Guides.

Source – AWEX.