There was an increase in bales offered nationally last week, but not enough to bring the season total anywhere near last year’s levels.
There was a total of 38,516 bales offered, 2528 more bales than last week, which brought the national total to 39,000 bales lower, or 12.5 per cent, than last season.
It was also revealed last week that Australian Wool Testing Authority (AWTA) tested seven pc less wool this August than last August nationally.
The wool tested last month was 27.6 million kilograms greasy, two kg less than the 29.6 mkg tested last year.
For the first two months of the 2018/19 season, the weight of wool tested by AWTA was down by 5.7pc at 44.5mkg.
The National Council of Wool Selling Brokers of Australia executive director Chris Wilcox said while it is still early days, this decline is in line with the Australian Wool Production Forecasting Committee’s forecast of a 5.7pc fall for the full season.
This lessened supply has contributed to the record prices that have been seen in recent months, and this was no different in week 10 of selling.
The market opened on a strong note, with the first day recording widespread increases, but the momentum could not be maintained throughout the rest of the week.
Despite the Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) falling two cents a kilogram week-on-week, it finished on 2088c/kg, which is up 532c/kg on the same time last year, when it was 1556c/kg.
The passed-in rate was slightly up on the week prior, at 4.1pc, up 1.4pc.
The Southern Market Indicator also took a slight dip, falling eight c/kg to 2047c/kg.
There were falls in almost every micron range, with the biggest seen at 16.5 micron, which fell 71c/kg, but still closed at a significant high of 3017c/kg.
There was a 23c/kg rise at 23 micron and 20c/kg rise at 30 micron.
In Australian Wool Exchange’s (AWEX) weekly market report, it reported the exchange rate gave overseas processors some assistance with their purchase cost when the local currency continued to trend lower against the US dollar.
It said midway through the week, the Australian dollar hit 71.5 US cents, a two-year low, before staging a recovery to finish at 71.68 cents late on Thursday.
AWEX reported Merino skirtings found good support and were mostly firm on the previous sale.
On the smallest national crossbred offering in three years, a mixed result was recorded, firming in some areas and losing ground in others.
The main buyers spending big on Merino fleece at woolstores across the country were Techwool Trading, Seatech, Kathaytex and Lempriere Australia.