Lower US$ exchange rate helps wool close higher

29 Sep '09

4 min read

The Australian wool market finished 1.0% higher, on average, at sales in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle this week when the US exchange rate was slightly lower, although still high in absolute terms.

The AWEX EMI rose by 7¢ (+0.8%), ending the week at 846¢/kg. This reflected a fall of 1¢ (-0.1%) in the North and an increase of 12¢ (+1.5%) in the South, with their corresponding Regional Indicators finishing the week at 865¢ and 829¢ clean, respectively. The Western Indicator rose by 13¢ (+1.6%), finishing the week at 835¢.The increase in the Western Indicator included some catch up for the 6¢ lift in the AWEX EMI last Thursday when the West was not selling.

The difference in the changes in the Northern and Southern Indicators reverses the trend seen last week, resulting in a change of +32¢ (3.8%) in the North and +33¢ (4.1%) in the South over the two week period.

In a three day sale in Melbourne and a two day sale in Sydney, the AWEX EMI fell by 2¢ on Tuesday, rose by 2¢ on Wednesday and by 7¢ on Thursday. The Western Indicator rose by 13¢ on Wednesday in a one day sale in Fremantle.

41,516 bales were on offer, compared with 41,938 bales last week, of which 5.5% were passed in, comprised of 3.8% in Sydney, 4.7% in Melbourne and 10.2% in Fremantle. Pass-in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 6.1% and 3.3%, respectively. 1,312 bales (3.1%) from the expected offering of 42,828 bales were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered bales made up 10.9% of the final offering. 39,219 bales were cleared to the trade.

The New Zealand Merino Company also offered 3,178 bales in Melbourne on Wednesday of which 13.6% were passed in. 99 bales (3.0%) were withdrawn prior to sale and 7.8% of the bales were re-offers.

The US exchange rate (source RBA) was 1.25¢ lower on Monday when compared with Thursday of last week. It was then up by 0.47¢ on Tuesday, by 0.71¢ on Wednesday and down by 0.32¢ on Thursday to close at 87.26¢, down 0.39¢ (-0.4%) since the last sale. The exchange rate against the Euro fell by 0.22 Euro cents (-0.4%) to close at 59.26 Euro cents on Thursday night. When looked at in other currencies, the AWEX EMI moved up by 3¢ (+0.4%) in US terms and by 2¢ (+0.4%) in Euro terms when compared with the previous sale.

It was another good market this week despite the softer start on the first days of selling (Tuesday in Melbourne and Wednesday in Sydney). The week finished with strong competition among the buyers and growers prepared to sell, as reflected by the low pass-in rates. The medium and broader Merino types did slightly better than the fine wools.

Changes in the Average AWEX Micron Price Guides (MPGs) for Merino wools varied from -0.4% (18.5 and 19.5 microns) to +0.7% (20.0 microns). Average MPGs were up by 5¢ clean for 16.5 microns, down by 4¢ for 17.0 microns, by 1¢ for 17.5 microns, by 2¢ for 18.0 microns, by 4¢ for 18.5 microns, up by 1¢ for 19.0 microns and down by 4¢ for 19.5 microns. The 20.0 micron wool average MPG was up by 6¢ clean, 21.0 microns was unchanged, 22.0 microns was up by 5¢ and 23.0 and 24.0 microns were unchanged.

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