News Flash

Wool market finishes 1.8% higher

18 May '07

4 min read

In another strong week with a bigger offering and a drop in the US exchange rate, the Australian wool market finished 1.8% higher, on average, at sales in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle this week.

The AWEX EMI increased by 18¢ (+1.9%), ending the week at a new season high of 980¢/kg clean. This reflected increases of 15¢ (+1.5%) in the North and 19¢ (+2.0%) in the South, with their corresponding Regional Indicators finishing the week at 1,010¢ and 954¢ clean respectively. The Western Indicator rose by 17¢ (+1.8%), finishing the week at 985¢/kg clean. The Northern, Southern and Western Indicators are also at season peak levels.

When compared with the start of the upward movement of the market in October, the EMI and the Northern, Southern and Western Indicators are now up by 239¢ (32.3%), 244¢ (31.9%), 234¢ (32.5%) and 268¢ (37.4%), respectively. 19 to 23 average AWEX Micron Price Guides (MPG) are up by 270¢ to 291¢ clean over the period and by 243¢ for 24 micron wools. At the fine end, the changes are 143¢ for 17 micron wool, 199¢ for 17.5, 202¢ for 18 and 243¢ for 18.5 micron wool.

52,262 bales were on offer, compared with 43,198 last week, of which 4.2% were passed in, comprised of 1.8% in Sydney, 3.7% in Melbourne and 7.5% in Fremantle. Pass in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 4.2% and 3.1% respectively. 1,367 bales (2.5%) were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered wools made up 12.0% of this week's offering.

The US exchange rate (RBA) was 0.11¢ higher on Monday when compared with Thursday of last week. It decreased by 0.07¢ on Tuesday and remained the same on Wednesday before falling by 0.69¢ on Thursday, to close at 82.58¢, down 0.65¢ (-0.8%) since the last sale. The exchange rate against the Euro decreased by 0.39 Euro cents (-0.6%) to close at 61.05 Euro cents on Thursday night. When looked at in other currencies, the AWEX EMI increased by 8¢ (+1.0%) in US terms and by 7¢ (+1.2%) in Euro terms when compared with the previous sale.

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