AWIS wool market review

19 Jan '07

3 min read

In another big week for the wool industry, the Australian Wool market finished 4.9% higher, on average, at sales in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle, a total of 15.3% for the first two weeks of January.

The AWEX EMI increased by 47¢ (+5.1%), ending the week at 962¢/kg clean. This reflected increases of 48¢ (+5.1%) in the North and 46¢ (+5.2%) in the South, with their corresponding Regional Indicators finishing the week at 997¢ and 934¢ clean respectively. The Western Indicator increased by 40¢ (+4.3%), finishing the week at 976¢/kg clean.

The Market Indicators continue well above their levels of 14 weeks ago, with the EMI and the Northern, Southern and Western Indicators being up by 221¢, 231¢, 214¢ and 259¢, respectively. 19 to 23 average AWEX Micron Price Guides are now up by 261 to 294¢ over the period and by 200¢ for 24 micron wools. At the fine end, the changes are 170¢ for 17 micron wool, 197¢ for 17.5, 206¢ for 18 and 235¢ for 18.5 micron wool.

68,917 bales were on offer (compared with 47,145 last week), of which 4.7% were passed in, comprised of 2.1% in Sydney, 4.3% in Melbourne and 7.6% in Fremantle. Pass in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 3.7% and 3.6% respectively. 1,303 bales (1.9%) were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered wools made up 11.3% of this week's offering.

The US exchange rate was 0.31¢ higher on Monday when compared with the Thursday of the last week. It decreased by 0.26¢ on Tuesday, rose by 0.06¢ on Wednesday and by 0.46¢ on Thursday to close at 78.82¢, up 0.57¢ (+0.7%) since the last sale. The exchange rate against the Euro increased by 0.37 Euro cents (+0.6%) to close at 60.77 Euro cents on Thursday night. When looked at in other currencies, the AWEX EMI increased by 42¢ in US terms and by 32¢ in Euro terms when compared with the previous sale.

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