Eastern Market Indicator drops

23 Jan '12

3 min read

Australian Wool Industries Secretariat Inc (AWIS) releases wool sale report for the week ending 20 January 2012.

The market continued the easing seen on Thursday last week, with the Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX) Regional Indicators finishing 2.0% lower, on average, at sales in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle this week. The US exchange rate rose by a further 1%. This week's changes most of last week's gains, when the Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) had lifted by 27¢ and the Regional Indicators were up by 2.1%.

Looking at comparisons with last year, the EMI at 1190¢ is now 1¢ less than in the same week last year; and the season average of 1230¢ is 278¢ higher than the season average at the end of Week 29 last year.

The Cape Wools Indicator in South Africa was down by 2.4%.

58,409 bales were on offer, compared with 49,498 bales last week. 11.6% were passed in, comprised of 10.0% in Sydney, 11.4% in Melbourne and 14.2% in Fremantle. Pass-in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 12.4% and 8.7%, respectively.

51,644 bales were cleared to the trade.

The year-to-date offering is 25,208 bales less (-2.4%) than at the end of the same week last year. It is expected to move further behind last year over the next three weeks, as the current roster for this period is 8.6% less than last year.

The US exchange rate continued its upward movement this week, albeit with some day-to-day fluctuations. Financial analysts report that global markets appear to have accepted the down grading of the Standard and Poors AAA rating of nine Eurozone countries and the latest doubts about Greece without the major reactions to this sort of news prior to Christmas. The Euro exchange rate remained above 80¢ all week.

As mentioned above, the market gave back most of the previous sale's gains. The falls started on Tuesday in Melbourne, when most of the downward movement took place. There were further, but more moderate, easing on Wednesday and Thursday. The greatest impact was seen from 18 to 21 microns.

Although the market is at its pre-Christmas levels in Australian currency, it is up by 60¢ in US currency over the same period. The US exchange rate has appreciated by 5.1% during this period.

It was a mixed week for skirting types. Prices moved back on Tuesday, in line with fleece types, but recovered on Wednesday. Better types continued to move up on Thursday, while the poorer types lost ground.

Crossbreds eased sharply on Tuesday and Wednesday before settling on Thursday. The downward movement was quite sharp for the coarser types.

It was a mixed week for oddments, with prices for most types fluctuating during the week on a national basis. The average AWEX Merino Cardings Price Guide was unchanged for the week.

Buyers for China were dominant followed by buyers for Europe and India.

Sales will be held in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle next week, when46,839 bales are currently rostered for sale. Present estimates for the following two sales (Weeks 31 and 32) are 39,045 and 43,800 bales, respectively; a decrease of 8.6% over the three sale period when compared with last year.

In South African sales, the Cape Wools Indicator was down by 2.4% since last week against a 1.1% appreciation of the Rand against the US Dollar and a 0.8% appreciation against the Euro. 13,968 bales were on offer.

Australian Wool Industries Secretariat Inc (AWIS)

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