The national wool offering remained steady this week, offering 43,940 bales at national selling centres, rising steadily from the 41,857 sold the previous week. The industry again celebrated the small gains, with the AWEX Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) recording a 5c increase for the selling week, closing out at 1,320c/kg clean or 1,023c/kg in US dollar terms.
Only Melbourne sold on the final day of the selling week, causing the EMI to go into a nominal basis. This and the weakening of AUD:USD forex rate (-0.55%) have been at play, contributing to this rise in the EMI. The pass in rate remains steady at 11.7%. While failing to present the scheduled 46,000 bales this week, supply and demand are looking positive. China remains a dominant force in the sector but there is strengthening interest and participation from Indian and Euro manufacturers. It will be interesting to see how the market continues to track over the next few weeks with further favourable seasonal conditions, and whether growers decide to hold onto wool stores or sell. 41,000 bales are scheduled to be offered next week.
The AuctionsPlus online offer board experienced a fall this week with 613 bales sold for the period, dropping by 140 bales from the week before. 17µ and 18µ micron wool were in high demand this week, with 137 and 227 bales sold respectively. 17µ micron wool sold to a top of 1,655c/kg greasy or 2,282c/kg dry and the 18µ micron wool sold to a top of 1,496c/kg greasy or 1,950 dry. The top priced lot online for the week was 3 bales of 15.5µ micron premium Australian Superfine SUPAAAA wool selling for 1,496c/kg greasy or 1,950c/kg dry. This “DH/WALCHA” branded lot was 94mm in length, had 0.5% vegetable matter and was offered by Jemalong Wool.