The Australian wool market continued its downward movement when it finished 1.7% lower, on average, at sales in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle this week.
The AWEX EMI fell by 16¢ (-1.7%), ending the week at 904¢/kg. This reflected decreases of 15¢ (-1.6%) in the North and 15¢ (-1.7%) in the South, with their corresponding Regional Indicators finishing the week at 950¢ and 867¢ clean, respectively. The Western Indicator fell by 17¢ (-1.9%), finishing the week at 895¢.
In a two day sale in Sydney and Melbourne, the AWEX EMI fell by 4¢ on Wednesday and by 12¢ on Thursday. The Western Indicator fell by 10¢ on Wednesday and by 7¢ on Thursday in a two day sale in Fremantle.
55,718 bales were on offer, compared with 48,390 bales last week, of which 21.7% were passed in, comprised of 18.5% in Sydney, 19.0% in Melbourne and 30.2% in Fremantle. Pass-in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 24.8% and 22.8%, respectively. 2,962 bales (5.0%) were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered bales made up 13.7% of this week's offering.
The US exchange rate (source RBA) was 1.28¢ lower on Monday when compared last Wednesday's peak of 94.47. It was down by a further 0.13¢ on Tuesday, by 0.19¢ on Wednesday and up by 0.40¢ on Thursday to close at 93.77¢, down 1.20¢ (-1.3%) since the last sale.
The exchange rate against the Euro rose by 0.55 Euro cents (+0.9%) to close at 60.00 Euro cents on Thursday night. When looked at in other currencies, the AWEX EMI decreased by 26¢ (-3.0%) in US terms and by 5¢ (-0.9%) in Euro terms when compared with the previous sale.