WOOL prices rose despite a bigger offering in auction centres across Australia this week.

The AWEX Eastern Market Indicator rose 28 cents in the first sales after the annual three week mid-year recess, closing at 1550c/kg clean.

AWEX senior market analyst Lionel Plunkett said historically this sale is normally a larger one due to the extended break. Brokers offered 52,359 bales this week and only 3.9 percent were passed.

Mr Plunkett said sales opened on Tuesday with only Sydney and Melbourne offering.

“Buyer sentiment was very positive from the outset as they fought to obtain wool to cover orders sold over the break.

“The benchmark Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) managed a modest 1 cent rise,” he said.

“However, due to the increase in the Australian dollar since the previous sale, the EMI managed an impressive 34 cent rise in US dollar terms.”

On Wednesday, Fremantle resumed selling and all three centres experienced rises, generally between 15 and 30 cents, pushing the EMI up another 17 cents. On the final selling day, there were more price rises across the board in all three centres, generally 15 to 20 cents, helping push the EMI a further 10 cents, Mr Plunkett said.

The skirting market also experienced gains but not to the same extent as the fleece, he said. Prices generally rose 10 to 20 cents with buyer focus centred on the lower vm (<3.0%) and more stylish types.

“The crossbred market also performed very well this week.

“Strong buyer demand pushed most prices up, with again the largest increases enjoyed by the better prepared lines,” Mr Plunkett said.

The 28-30 micron wool was most affected, generally rising by nearly 50 cents for the week.

“The oddment market was the only poor performer for the week.

“Although a limited offering in Fremantle managed a very small increase, the Eastern states markets suffered corrections generally between 20 and 40 cents, pushing their carding indicators down an average of 31 cents,” Mr Plunkett said.

Currently there is just over 38,500 bales rostered for sale in Melbourne, Sydney and Fremantle.

Click here for the latest AWEX Micron Price Guides.

Source: AWEX.