Australian Wool Exchange EMI gains 2.1% this week

Merino wools pulled back 30 to 60ac of last week's losses, while crossbreds appreciated by 25ac. Cardings fell away 15ac after a few weeks of bucking the trend by being dearer whilst all other sectors weakened. Withdrawals plagued the auction scene as the original quantity of 34,000 bales was reduced by 18 per cent to 28,000 bales.

"This week the Australian wool auctions again produced results that are symptomatic of the volatility that surround wool pricing at present. On the back of last week's sharp decline, the lower prices helped extract fresh business from overseas users. This caused prices to revert upwards on most sectors. Short term trends have been non-existent now for the past few months, indicative of an industry struggling to find a safe and profitable levels of trades," the Australian Wool Innovation Limited (AWI) said in its report for sale week 15 of the current marketing season.

"Coming to the fore at Australian auctions is the variability of supply constraints that can either aid or weaken markets. The last three months of sales that had relatively large weekly auction offerings (35,000 bales +) has generally seen prices weaken whilst the smaller sales produced far better results. Whether this is coincidental and those sale weeks aligned with prompt demands needs is not yet clear." AWI said in its 'Wool Market' report for the week ending October 11.

Meanwhile, key test data figures from Australian Wool Testing Authority (AWTA) revealed that Australian wool production has decreased by 14 per cent already this year. On top of this, a good proportion of the wool grower sellers are resisting any further price decreases as they either withdraw their wool prior to auction or pass in their wool if the price offered fails to meet their expectations.

This situation, however, should come as a supply warning to the trade, as wool growers are the most aware of all participants as to what volumes are likely to be produced. The message from many wool selling brokers is quite clear. "A lot of the growers affected by drought are now in a position to not have to, or need to, sell their wool. Unfortunately, this is because they have sold their sheep at good prices and in many cases, it is core breeding stock that has been off loaded."

Around 40,000 bales would be on offer at next week's auctions.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)