CROSSBRED wools fared the worst in another drop in the Australian auction market this week.

The Australian Wool Exchange said the market this week recorded its fourth consecutive weekly fall.

The sales were held on Wednesday and Thursday this week to accommodate the Melbourne Cup public holiday on Tuesday, and the largest falls were recorded on the first day of selling.

“In the eastern centres, the falls in the Merino fleece Micron Price Guides (MPG) ranged between 2 and 32 cents.

“In Fremantle, which sold last on the first day, the movements ranged between minus 11 and plus 10 cents, with 19 micron and finer recording gains,” AWEX said.

“On the second day, with only Melbourne and Sydney in operation, the market performed with mixed results.

“The Merino fleece MPG movements ranged between plus 6 and minus 20 cents, with 17.5 to 18.5 micron fleece in the south enjoying the gains.”

AWEX said the crossbred sector recorded large falls again in this series.

“In Melbourne, the 26 micron MPG dropped 64 cents (-6.9pc), the 28 micron MPG dropped 45 cents (-6.5pc) and the 30 micron MPG fell by 52 cents (-8pc).”

AWEX said although the market has fallen over the previous few series, the total dollar amount sold for the season is still well above the previous, with wool valued at $843 million sold in the season to date, $93 million more than the corresponding sale of last year.

Brokers catalogued 25,022 bales, 2912 bales fewer than last week, and AWEX said the passed-in rate dropped considerably as sellers had a better understanding of where market levels were. The brokers passed in 13.6pc of the offering, 13.4pc lower than last week.

AWEX said compared to the previous season the total amount of bales offered continues to track lower.

“There has been a total of 447,873 bales offered season to date, this is 67,325 less bales than the previous season, a drop of 13.1pc.

Source – AWEX