Wool market closes 2.5% lower

15 May '08

3 min read

The Australian wool market finished 2.5% lower, on average, at sales in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle this week. The AWEX EMI fell by 20¢ (-2.2%), ending the week at 884¢/kg. This reflected decreases of 23¢ (-2.4%) in the North and 18¢ (-2.1%) in the South, with their corresponding Regional Indicators finishing the week at 927¢ and 849¢ clean, respectively. The Western Indicator fell by 27¢ (-3.0%), finishing the week at 868¢.

It was the first time the closing EMI had fallen below 900¢ since the second week in August, when it closed at 899¢. In a two day sale in Sydney and Melbourne, the AWEX EMI fell by 22¢ on Wednesday and rose by 2¢ on Thursday. The Western Indicator fell by 29¢ on Wednesday and rose by 2¢ on Thursday in a two day sale in Fremantle.

48,646 bales were on offer, compared with 55,718 bales last week, of which 20.9% were passed in, comprised of 15.8% in Sydney, 17.0% in Melbourne and 34.5% in Fremantle. Pass-in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 23.7% and 21.8%, respectively. 2,961 bales (5.7%) were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered bales made up 18.2% of this week's offering.

The re-offer rate, which was almost 20% of the offering, was the highest for the season. The US exchange rate (source RBA) was 0.28¢ higher on Monday when compared with Thursday of last week. It was up by a further 0.39¢ on Tuesday, by 0.19¢ on Wednesday and down by 0.63¢ on Thursday to close at 94.00¢, up 0.23¢ (+0.2%) since the last sale. The exchange rate against the Euro rose by 1.37 Euro cents (+2.3%) to close at 61.37 Euro cents on Thursday night. When looked at in other currencies, the AWEX EMI decreased by 17¢ (-2.0%) in US terms and increased by 1¢ (+0.2%) in Euro terms when compared with the previous sale.

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