IT was an interesting week, with wool buyers and sellers battling to find a fair value mid-point to trade forward.

Fine wools again looked under pressure and buyers were reluctant to commit forward. Medium microns held early in the week and bids remain around cash in the front months and 1400 cents through to the spring.

The stalemate was broken on limited volume towards the end of the week, with August trading at 1425 cents and 1430 cents. Hopefully, we will see that pull through backed up with some offshore demand signals. This is essential for the market, especially in the fine wools, to reverse the downwards trend of the last three weeks.

Anticipated levels next week

June/July               19 microns                1780 to 1820 cents

21 microns                1480 to 1500 cents

August                      19 microns                1740 to 1770 cents

21 microns                1420 to 1430 cents

September              19 microns                1710 to 1750 cents

21 microns                1400 to 1420 cents

October                   19 microns                1680 to 1710 cents

21 microns                1380 to 1410 cents

Trade summary

June                        19 microns                1800 cents                2 tonnes

June                        21 microns                1425/30 cents          6 tonnes

July                         20 microns                 1540 cents                5 tonnes

Total 13 tonnes