AUSTRALIA’S national wool market opened positively yesterday after a three-week recess, though mainly for finer stylish fleece wools with good tensile strength and low vegetable matter content.

AWEX quoted its Eastern Market Indicator as up three cents/kilogram to A1029c/kg with a pass-in rate of 7.6 per cent from 23,613 bales offered in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle.

Best 17 micron fleece wools up 50 cents in Sydney

In Sydney, AWEX said some 17 micron fleece rose up to 50 cents/kg in price as fine wools with best style and tensile strength above 40 Newtons/kilotex attracted increased interest. Medium to broader Merino wool finished 5-10c/kg dearer. Merino skirtings lifted 20c/kg, and washing and carbonising locks lifted five cents with stains and crutchings firm. Crossbred wool of 27 microns or less were unchanged while fleece 28 microns-plus lost 10c/kg.

Good strength 16-5-18.5 fleece up 20 cents in Melbourne

In Melbourne, AWEX said the 16.5-18.5 micron wools with 40N/kt-plus strength firmed 10-20c/kg, but lines around 35N/kt and 19-20 micron lots were unchanged. Broader Merinos, especially 22-23 microns were 15c/kg cheaper. Merino skirtings of 17-19 micron, good length and low vegetable matter, were 10c/kg up, with coarser lines unchanged. The 26-30 micron crossbred were 10-20c/kg cheaper and 32 microns unchanged. Locks and crutchings were also unchanged in Melbourne.

Medium and strong Merino fleece up 25 cents in Fremantle

In Fremantle, all microns gain ground, with fine wools 20c/kg up, 19-20 micron lines up 15c/kg and medium to strong types 25c/kg dearer. Merino skirtings with low vegetable matter were 25-30c/kg dearer, while lines with high vm – 5 percent – lifted 15-20c/kg. Locks and crutchings were mostly 5-10c/kg dearer.

Landmark wool risk manager Anthony Boatman said it was positive to see fine wools lift.

It was a good sign that the market didn’t go down by any great margin, even for crossbred wool, he said.

“It was a stable opening sale – I think it’s a pretty good result.

“But it has been a volatile previous season and it wouldn’t surprise me if it continues to be just as volatile into this season.”

Strong interest in AuctionsPlus Wool sale

The opening of the national physical market followed an AuctionsPlus Wool sale on Tuesday when 251 bales of 263 bales of mainly bulk-classed and carding wool was sold.

AuctionsPlus market operations manager Tony Benson said it was a strong sale.

“Locks and crutchings is very strong at the moment and we saw quite a good result – 15c/kg-plus greasy – on the market.

“For the fleece wool, we saw 10-20c/kg up on the previous week.”

The lift in fine wool prices with the opening of the physical market was also a good result for the industry, he said.

“It’s a really positive start after the recess.”

AuctionsPlus and physical market wool sales continue this week.

Source: AWEX