Strong rand pulls wool market down

28 Feb '08

2 min read

Due to the stronger rand, the market retracted marginally from last week's price levels and Cape Wools' Merino indicator closed 2.2% softer at R68,16/kg (clean).

This was in tandem with the Australian market, which closed 2.3% down on last week's levels.

Quality wools, however, are still fetching excellent prices and there was good demand for from all sectors of the trade for these types.

The rand, which had recovered much of its losses since the previous sale two weeks ago, was trading 3% firmer against the US dollar at R7.46, while it was virtually unchanged against the euro at R.11.23.

Fine wools were the most affected with 19 microns posting the biggest decline. Medium to stronger wools were on average 3% to 4% cheaper.

It was a fairly large offering, totaling 10 499 bales of which 96% were sold. Major buyers were Modiano (2 166 bales); Standard Wool SA (1 998 bales); Chargeurs Wool (1 901 bales); Lempriere (Aust) Ltd (1 346 bales) and Stucken (1 227 bales).

Average price movements for AWEX-type fleeces, MF4 and MF5 of 70 and 80 mm were as follows: 19 microns were down 9% at R83,78/kg; 20 microns fell 3.7% at R76,10/kg, and 21 microns were 3,2% cheaper at R68,90 /kg. There were no quotes for 22, 23, 24 and 25 microns due to insufficient quantities in these categories.

Approximately 11 000 bales will come under the hammer at next week's sale.

Cape Wools SA

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