AUSTRALIAN WEEKLY MARKET REPORT

Comment

Following last week’s dramatic opening and expectations of a 60,000-bale sale, the result this week was very encouraging. The opening prices in Melbourne settled at values ex Fremantle from the Thursday prior. Sydney prices more or less fell into line with that level and stayed around that basis over both sale days.

The better specification wool continues to be well supported. For our Italian weaver clients, the prices for the best fine wool remains very strong and slightly upward this week. We expect in small supply that these types will remain keenly sought after in the next few months. Superfine types were again in strong demand with 16.0 micron and finer dearer in small supply. Ultrafine wool around 14.0 again attracted good competition for the few bales on offer.

While the medium and broader merino wool was the strongest at the close of the week, it was the finer micron wools that were the most stable.

The AWEX EMI movement is a little more dramatic than reality as it had Sydney values starting from Wednesday 15th. Sydney did not sell on Thursday when the market corrected and AWEX use the most recent values in each centre when calculating the EMI.

AWEX Eastern Indicator compared with 17/01/2020

Eastern Indicator

Close: 1576

Change in % -2.05

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

Authentico Index Values

15 Micron

Close: 2680

Change in %: +2.56

16 Micron

Close: 2419

Change in %: -1.06

17 Micron

Close: 2232

Change in %: +0.31

18 Micron

Close: 2080

Change in %: -0.86

19 Micron

Close: 1979

Change in %: -0.25

Authentico Indicator

Close: 2243

Change in %: -0.09

Forecast

It was a poor decision of the industry to roster 60,000 bales for sale leading into the Chines New Year period. Fortunately, 12% of this quantity was withdrawn prior to sale and growers passed in another 16%. This helped the market to maintain a certain level of composure. It’s important that we keep a flow of wool onto the market that doesn’t encourage unnecessarily speculative decision making. Some small volatility in an open market is healthy, but it’s important that we communicate what is best to encourage more stability than what we’ve experienced recently. The exporters would certainly have had enormous difficulties financing 60,000 bales had they all been sold.

Auction offering – current week

Selling Centres for week 30

Market          Sale          Offered             Sold       Passed In

North                      S 30                     14105                       11973                  15.1%

South                     M 30                    26847                      22760                  15.2%

West                       F 30                      11714                        9540                   18.6%

Auction offering – next week

Market          Sale          Sale days          Volume

North                      S 31                     W/T                           9700

South                     M 31                    W/T                           21538

West                       F 31                     W/T                            9442

 

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