The Australian wool market has continued its upward trend, rising for the third week in a row.
The Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) finished the week on 1846 cents per kilogram, a 21 cent rise on the week prior, and the Southern Market Indicator closed at 1807c/kg, an 18c rise.
It was an unusual selling pattern of Tuesday and Thursday sale days, because of Wednesday’s Anzac Day holiday, but that did not deter buyers from bidding aggressively and setting a new record.
Tuesday’s sales closed setting a new EMI record of 1847c/kg, surpassing the previous 1834c/kg record set in February.
Buyers were more selective on the second day of buying, pushing prices down, but the EMI closed the week only losing one cent from its Tuesday high.
Fox & Lillie technical and marketing manager Eamon Timms said Chinese buyers were fairly inactive on Thursday, following Tuesday’s rise.
Mr Timms said better specification wools maintained their values, while some lower specification Merino wools started to come off.
“The better specification wools are very well supported at the moment, they’re performing strongly because selection is very limited,” Mr Timms said.
He said the crossbred sector went from strength to strength, with gains made on the Tuesday continuing on the Thursday.
“As people struggle to find any volume in the 22-24 micron category, they’re having to buy finer 20-20.5 micron wool, and 24-26 micron crossbred wool, to achieve the micron category they need for their orders,” he said.
The 25 to 30 micron categories sold at levels 50 to 150c/kg above those achieved at the previous sale.
The oddment market rose for the fifth consecutive trading week, with all types and descriptions generally selling at levels five to 10c/kg above the previous sale.
Mr Timms said this limited selection is driving some of the strength in the market.
“People are a bit concerned about being able to access the better types, so any better types that are around now are being covered, and that is certainly a factor that people are aware of,” he said.
“The pressure currently on the high-yielding, good types will continue.”
He said the influx of low-yielding wool in the market is being driven by the drought conditions seen across the state.
“You do expect to see some low-yielding wool at this time of year, but there’s a greater proportion this year because so many parts of the state are dry,” he said.
“There are concerns that if we don’t get much rain in the short-term, we’ll go into a very hard winter.”
Joely Mitchell
Joely started her career at Stock & Land as a cadet journalist in 2016. She is now the editor of the paper.
Joely started her career at Stock & Land as a cadet journalist in 2016. She is now the editor of the paper.
