The Eastern Market Indicator tumbled 56 cents today at the first wool sales after the world became fully aware of the impact of China's coronavirus outbreak.
The EMI finished the day on 1520c a kilogram clean after sales in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle where 37.1 per cent of the national catalogue of 18,611 bales was passed in.
The pass-in rate was highest in Fremantle where vendors withdrew 44.5pc of the offering.
Sydney experienced a pass-in rate of almost 39pc (and 47pc for Merino fleece) on an offering of 5030 bales but the Northern Indicator still plunged 62c to 1555c a kg.
Merino wool 18.5 micron and finer ended the day 70-90c lower while the broader microns shed 40-50c.
Merino skirtings plummeted by 90-120c.
The same sad story unfolded in Melbourne and many growers refused to take the lower prices.
AWEX reported 47pc of Merino fleece wools failed to meet reserves. The overall pass-in rate was 33.3pc on a total offering of 9789 bales.
At the finer end of the fleece market, 17 microns and finer fell 120c while 17.5 to 18.5 microns dropped 90c.
The broader wools were less affected as 19 micron lines dropped 50c and 19.5 and broader by 25c.
Merino skirtings 18 microns and finer with high vegetable matter were down by 100c a kg while lower VM skirtings were 70c easier.
Crossbred wools lost 50c across all microns and descriptions.
The Southern Indicator slipped 52c to 1497.
The Fremantle Merino fleece market followed the downward trend of the eastern sales on an offering of 3792 bales.
Merino fleece 18 though to 21 microns were generally down 35 to 50c and growers responded by passing-in more than 55pc of the fleece lots.
Merino skirtings 17.5 micron and finer dropped by 120 to 140c while 18 micron and coarser were 90 to 100c easier.
The Westerm Indicator lost 48c to 1637c.
A total of 19,777 bales are scheduled for sale tomorrow (Thursday).