AUSTRALIAN WEEKLY MARKET REPORT

Comment

Auction sales have started 2022 in a very positive way. We shouldn’t be so surprised. In the past 13 years, since January 2010, the market has opened strongly in January with the exception being January 2014 and January 2015 when, in both cases, the market was very firm. We are not sure of the reasons for this but it might have some relevance to the pending Chinese New Year period and it’s a generally good time of the year for demand overall. There is no doubt some optimism coming from Europe but also a level of caution to start the year from some sectors in China. Some have commented that the market was perhaps a little stronger in 2021 than it should have been, all things considered. No doubt though, since 2010 we have continued to enter into significantly different supply and demand circumstances. Supply is dictating terms more than the demand. We noticed that this week in the auction. For quality wools, if you wanted to buy a particular lot, competition was keen from the outset. There is less quality fine wool on offer than we would normally expect at this time of the year as well.

AWEX Eastern Indicator compared with 10/12/2021

Eastern Indicator

Close: 1389

Change in % +2.28

If you want to learn more about AWEX indicators, visit the official website http://www.awex.com.au

Authentico Index Values

15 Micron

Close: 3797

Change in %: unchanged (minimal offering)

16 Micron

Close: 3065

Change in %: +0.49

17 Micron

Close: 2642

Change in %: -0.15

18 Micron

Close: 2254

Change in %: +1.21

19 Micron

Close: 1879

Change in %: +2.40

Authentico Indicator

Close: 2649

Change in %: +0.53

Forecast

According to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) report, wool exports from July to the end of November 2021 are 45% higher overall compared to 2020. These are extraordinary figures with big percentage increases shown in exports to Italy (+355%), India (+125%), Czech Republic (+57%) and Egypt (+244%). Even exports to China are 35% up on much greater volume. Quite a performance for the wool industry. Exactly how this will play out in terms of future supply, we are not sure. Wool was held on farm rather than sent to store at the start of 2020. We suspect that a good percentage of the merinos have since been sold and the bulk of the bales still in store are crossbred types.
The market increases this week might be just a little too fast, we’ll need to wait the weekend to see if there is any interest from the Chinese sector at this new basis.

Auction offering – current week

Market          Sale         Offered        Sold       Passed In

North              S 28           12543        11749         6.3%

South               M 28           22180        20600        7.1%

West                F 28            9016        8209         9.0%

Auction offering – next week

Market          Sale          Sale days     Volume

North               S 29            T / W 10215

South               M 29          T / W / T 27311

West                F 29            T / W 9007

If you want to see the complete Wool Sales Roster click here.