News

Wool buyers sought finer lines online during auction break

Sheep Central, August 7, 2019

WOOL buyers sought finer lines in online bale sales during the three-week recess of physical auctions in Australia.

AuctionsPlus Wool operations manager Tom Rookyard said physical wool auctions recommence this week after the July recess.

“The market closed on the 11 July on a positive note, as the market bounced back from over a month of retraction.

“The AWEX Eastern Market Indicator is currently sitting at 1754 cents, or in US dollar terms 1222 cents,” he said.

“The large supply of drought-affected wools coupled with US-China relations have impacted negatively over the past months, seeing the EMI fall to a positive seen back in 2017.

Mr Rookyard said AuctionsPlus Wool sold 88 bales to overseas buyers during the recess.

“Buyers sought out the finer end of the market seeing 15 micron and 16 micron fleece wool sold up to 1255 cents and 1325 cents greasy or 1801 cents and 1882 cents clean,” he said.

The 17 and 18 micron fleece wool sold up to 1484 cents and 1237 cents greasy or 2135 cents and 1900 cents clean.

Mr Rookyard said the top-priced lot sold online over the break was a 10-bale line of 14.9 micron AAAAM fleece wool that sold for 1590c/kg greasy or 2268c/kg clean. It has an average staple length of 70 mm long, a yield of 70.1pc and with 1.5 percent vegetable matter. The lot was branded Moloston and was offered by RuralCo Wool.

Mr Rookyard said 15 micron and 16 micron Merino pieces sold up to 915c/kg and 1105c/kg greasy, and 17 and 19 micron Merino pieces made to 750c/kg and 508c/kg greasy.

“Looking forward, there is an estimated 46,000 bales on offer this week, with large quantities as a result of the break,” he said.

“Reports from the auctions suggest that the market is not set to rally from its current position, but the low Australian dollar will entice buyers and exporters initially.

“Over the next several weeks, the supply drops, with an estimated 35,000, 29,000 and 33,000 bales to be offered nationally,” he said.

“Supply will be a challenge moving forward for the wool industry, as record mutton prices and poor lambing rates impact growers’ decisions across the country.

“This was shown through the Australian Wool Testing Authority (AWTA) results for the month of July being down 5.9pc for the total number of bales compared with July 2018.”

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