AUSTRALIAN wool growers reacted to the downturn in auction prices late last week by withdrawing and passing almost 40 percent of the catalogued bales.

AWEX senior market analyst Lionel Plunkett said the softer tone evident at the end of last week’s series, has carried into this week.

“After three weeks of successive rises, the Australian wool market has suffered losses this week.

“The falls on the final day of last week, prompted many sellers to remove their wool from sale, this resulted in 13.9pc of the original offering being withdrawn (before this week’s sales), reducing the total amount of wool available to the trade to 37,432 bales,” he said.

Additionally, brokers passed in 26pc of the bales offered for sale

“The market suffered the largest falls on the first day of selling.

“The individual Micron Price Guides (MPGs) in all three centres lost between 51 and 111 cents,” Mr Plunkett said.

“On the back of these losses, the AWEX Eastern Market Indicator lost 71 cents for the day, which equated to a 5.8pc drop.

“The second day of selling the market settled, with only minimal price movements experienced,” he said.

The Micron Price Guides across the country traded within 21 cents of the levels of the previous day — in positive and negative territory, Mr Plunkett said.

“The EMI fell by a further 10 cents, closing the week at 1138 cents, an overall loss of 81 cents, a 6.6pc reduction.

“Worth noting, in a positive sign for the following week, on the final day, the Fremantle fleece market (selling last), recorded price rises,” he said.

The Western MPGs rose by 9 to 21 cents. As a result of these rises, the Western MPGs recorded the lowest overall losses for the week, Mr Plunkett said.

“After recording the largest rises in the previous week, this series the crossbreds suffered the largest losses (in percentage terms).

“The MPGs for 26 to 32 micron dropped by 36 to 80 cents,” he said.

Due to a Public Holiday in Melbourne on Tuesday next week, wool sales have moved to Wed/Thurs selling for Week 19, avoiding any centre selling in isolation. There are currently 36,666 bales on offer in Melbourne, Fremantle, and in Sydney, which is a designated superfine sale.

Click here to read the latest AWEX Micron Price Guides.

Source: AWEX.