The Australian Wool Market finished this week with prices 2.2% lower, on average, at the sale in Melbourne. Sydney and Fremantle are in recess.
The AWEX EMI decreased by 8¢ (-1.1%), ending the week at 727¢/kg clean. In the absence of a Northern sale, this differs somewhat from the decrease of 16¢ (-2.2%) reported in the South, where the Regional Indicator finished the week at 710¢/kg clean.
21,006 bales were on offer (compared with 67,996 last week) of which 10.9% were passed in.
Pass-in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 13.1% and 4.6% respectively. 224 bales (1.1%) were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered wools made up 12.6% of this week's offering.
The US exchange rate remained the same at 74.33¢ on Monday when compared with the previous Thursday. This was followed by an increase of 0.73¢ on Tuesday and 0.44¢ on Wednesday, to close at 75.50¢, up 1.17¢ (1.6%) for the week.
The exchange rate against the Euro decreased by 0.22 Euro cents ( 0.4%) to close at 61.85 Euro cents.
When looked at in other currencies, the AWEX EMI increased by 5¢ in US$ terms and decreased by 6¢ in Euro terms when compared with last week's sale.
However, the Southern indicator decreased in both US currency and the Euro.
The AWEX EMI dropped by 4¢ on Tuesday, by 4¢ on Wednesday, whereas the Southern Indicator fell by 9¢ on Tuesday and a further 7¢ yesterday.
After two good weeks, the market came under pressurewith an upward movement in the US exchange rate and a larger than originally anticipated offering.