Sales on Wooltrade early last week indicated some buyer interest and support, market operations manager Tony Benson said.

“A change of tide happened mid-week that let prices drift down ever so slightly to fall behind last week’s reasonable result.

“This is not a significant move but one that feels like the market is directionally challenged without a driver or an anchor,” he said.

“Remember the wool market had a solid run for three weeks and this could be the rest it needs.”

Mr Benson said Wooltrade’s top price last week was 1311c/kg clean for a bale of 15.8 micron Merino fleece wool that had 0.5 percent vegetable matter content, a yield of 76.3pc, staple length of 88mm and tensile strength of 32 Newtons/kilotex. The lot was offered by Jemalong Wool at Forbes, NSW.

Mr Benson said 17 micron fleece wool made up to 1274c/kg clean, the 18 micron lots reached 1235c/kg, the 19s 1221c/kg, the 20s 1177c/kg and 21 micron fleece wool made to 1156c/kg.

“All of these prices are close to the quoted AWEX Micron Price Guides.”

Buoyant market for crossbred, short and carbonising wool

He said the market for crossbred, short lambs and carbonising wool was buoyant, “and in certain sectors, demand could be described as hot.”

“Of the lambs, a 30mm Merino lamb’s fleece was making up to 700c/kg for a 17.6 micron lot, with fine lambs selling briskly throughout the week.”

Mr Benson said last week was a perplexing week for the wool market with the AWEX Eastern Market indicator falling just three cents to close at 1,047c/kg, but earlier in the week there were signs of confidence in the market to be unchanged or to slightly improve.

AuctionsPlus Wool oddments sell well

AuctionsPlus Wool held its 146^th online Auction this week and Merino stain crutchings sold up to 426c/kg greasy for an 18.6 micron lot with 3pc vegetable matter.

“Some wool price watchers tell me that cardings can lead the rest of the market in an upswing and it will be an interesting week if that’s the case so keep an eye on the carding indicator for a sign of a possible market jump,” Mr Benson said.

“Activity on the Wooltrade system this week has been subdued, but there are 14,400 bales listed with another 45,000 bales set for the physical auctions so it could be a challenging week for wool.”

Source: Wooltrade