Wool price drops

21 Nov '11

4 min read

Australian Wool Industries Secretariat Inc (AWIS) releases wool sale report for the week ending 18th November 11.

The Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX) Regional Indicators finished 2.2% lower, on average, at sales in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle this week when the US exchange rate fell by 0.5%.

The market generally struggled this week, as global economic confidence fell because of further concerns about Europe. The Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) was down by 2.4% after last week's small fall of 0.4%. This was disappointing, as there were trade reports of inquiry early in the week.

The market is still well placed when compared with last year. The Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) at 1190¢ was 15.4% higher than in the same week last year; and the season average of 1244¢ is 36.6% higher than the season average at the end of Week 20 last year.

The greater fall in the Western Indicator was again due to there being no sale there last Thursday, when the EMI fell by 5¢.

Next week's Newcastle sale will be watched closely, given the amount of fine wool that will be available between Newcastle and the New Zealand Merino Company offering in Melbourne.

45,117 bales were on offer, compared with 41,841 bales last week. 16.0% were passed in, comprised of 9.3% in Sydney, 16.0% in Melbourne and 26.3% in Fremantle. Pass-in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 19.7% and 9.5%, respectively. 37,916 bales were cleared to the trade.

The small overall change in the US exchange rate again masked the day-to-day volatility. The rise on Monday was attributed to a lift in confidence that followed the change in Prime Ministers in Greece and Italy. But, this was short lived, as concerns about Greece and Italy containing their debt arose again; and the interest rateson Government bonds rose, particularly in Spain, Portugal and Italy. The interest rate on Italian bonds rose to the critical 7% mark on Wednesday.

A number of economists are now tipping a further easing of the US exchange rate in the medium term. It dropped to 99.97¢ on Friday.

The Market got away to a slow start on Wednesday and showed little change of direction on Thursday, when the EMI fell by 16¢ on top of the 13¢ fall on Wednesday. Merino fleece wools were the most affected over the week, particularly at the fine end, where the week-on-week falls in the average AWEX Micron Price Guide (MPGs) ranged from 2.9% to 3.9%

Pass-in rates were generally up (apart from the North) in response to the fall in the market. This was particularly so for Fleece types, which had a pass-in rate of 19.7% compared with 9.5% for Skirtings.

It was a mixed week for skirtings. Demand started well in the North on Wednesday, with most types relatively unchanged. This was not the case in the South or the West where prices eased. Finer types slipped further on Thursday, while others types were less affected.

Crossbredtypes all lost ground during the week, but generally by less than the Merino types. The falls in crossbred average AWEX Micron Price Guide (MPGs) ranged from -0.6% to -2.5%.

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