Merino wool prices lifted in the sale auction sales before a three-week seasonal recess.

AUSTRALIAN wool prices improved this week, consistent with a slight improvement in business in recent weeks and buyers taking their last auction-buying opportunity to meet shipping deadlines before a three-week recess.

Demand continues to be dominated by China, with a little from India and Europe still struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

AWEX senior market analysts Lionel Plunkett said this week was the last auction buying opportunity for buyers for nearly a month, as the annual mid-year three-week recess starts next week.

He said any wool required for export orders during that time needed to be purchased this week, pushing demand higher, as exporters fought hard over the wool on offer.

“Nationally, there was 35,262 bales available, and compared to the previous season there has been 1320 more bales offered, an increase of 2 percent.

“The increased demand helped to push prices higher across most Merino fleece types,” he said.

The individual Merino Price Guides (MPGs) across all three centres generally rose by 5 to 92 cents, with the 17.5 micron MPG in the south recording the largest increase for the series, Mr Plunkett said.

“The only MPGs to fall for the series were the 18.5 to 19 micron guides in the north and south, which recorded 5 to 17 cent falls.

“The rises in the MPGs helped to push the AWEX Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) up by 18 cents for the series, and the EMI closed the week at 1134 cents/kg clean, a 1.5pc rise,” he said.

“When viewed in US$ terms the increase was slightly higher, the EMI rose by US14 cents to US787 cents, a rise 1.8pc.”

Mr Plunkett said most sellers were again keen to accept the prices on offer and the national passed-in rate was only 6.2pc.

“The EMI has now risen for two consecutive weeks, recording positive movements for the first two weeks of the 2020/21 selling season and gaining 24 cents over this time.”

Mr Plunkett said the crossbred sector recorded very little change, and most crossbred MPGs were unchanged from the previous week. Only the 26 micron MPG in the south recorded movement; a 50-cent increase in this MPG equating to a 6pc rise.

Auction sales resume in the week beginning Monday the 3rd of August.

Click here to see the latest AWEX Micron Price Guides.

Source: AWEX.