ONLINE bale sales were minimal on Wooltrade last week as the Australian auction market fell to its lowest point since mid-October.

Wooltrade market operations supervisor Tom Rookyard said the AWEX Eastern Market Indicator dropped 21 cents on Wednesday, then lost a further 3 cents on Thursday to rest at 1217c/kg clean.

“However, there was not all negative feedback from the week.

“The losses the market was seeing halted towards the close of the week, with some positive signals,” he said.

“Better quality and specified types and microns actually made ground.

“With another week of such a high pass in rate, there was once again minimal buyer participation online on Wooltrade; only 48 bales were traded.”

A two bale line of 16.2 micron fleece sold for 1333c/kg clean or 940c/kg greasy. This line yielded 70.5 percent, with an average staple length of 52mm, tensile strength of 65 Newtons/kilotex and 1.6pc vegetable matter content.

A seven-bale line of 17.2 micron wool, with a yield of 66.4pc, mean staple length of 90mm, tensile strength of 37N/kt and 0.6pc vm sold for 1529c/kg clean or 1015c/kg greasy. This lot was branded Mt Melville and was offered by Elders Melbourne.

An 11-bale line of 18.2 micron fleece wool sold for 1495c/kg clean or 1060c/kg greasy. It yielded 70.9pc, with a=n average staple length of 86mm, tensile strength of 37N/kt and 0.6pc vm.

“Looking forward, with the past two weeks seeing such swift losses at auction, of 53  cents on the AWEX EMI, the bottom must be near,” Mr Rookyard said.

“The gains made on Thursday over some types signal that the market may be poised to stabilize or even rise.

“There are only 40,000 bales on offer over all three auction selling centres this week and once again the A$-US$ will continue to play a significant role.”

Click here for the latest Wooltrade Top Prices Summary.

Source: Wooltrade.