AWEX EMI drop by 9¢

13 Dec '08

4 min read

The Australian wool market finished 0.9% lower, on average, at sales in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle this week.

The AWEX EMI fell by 9¢ (-1.1%), ending the week at 780¢/kg. This reflected falls of 5¢ (-0.6%) in the North and 13¢ (-1.7%) in the South, with their corresponding Regional Indicators finishing the week at 813¢ and 752¢ clean, respectively. The Western Indicator fell by 4¢ (-0.5%), finishing the week at 745¢.

In a two day sale in Sydney and Melbourne, the AWEX EMI fell by 8¢ on Wednesday and by 1¢ on Thursday. The Western Indicator fell by 1¢ on Wednesday and by 3¢ on Thursday in a two day sale in Fremantle.

39,565 bales were on offer, compared with 48,339 bales last week, of which 14.2% were passed in, comprised of 8.0% in Sydney, 13.3% in Melbourne and 22.6% in Fremantle. Pass-in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 16.3% and 12.7%, respectively. 1,171 bales (2.9%) were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered bales made up 15.3% of this week's offering.

The offering was surprisingly low, given that the forecast provided last Thursday night was for 45,300 bales.

The New Zealand Merino Company also offered 3,951 bales in Melbourne on Tuesday of which 29.7% were passed in. 71 bales (1.8%) were withdrawn prior to sale and 27.4% of the bales were re-offers.

The US exchange rate (source RBA) was 0.64¢ higher on Monday when compared with Thursday of last week. It was then up by a further 0.66¢ on Tuesday, by 0.43¢ on Wednesday and down by 0.49¢ on Thursday to close at 65.66¢, up 1.24¢ (+1.9%) since the last sale. The exchange rate against the Euro fell by 0.52 Euro cents (-1.0%) to close at 50.32 Euro cents on Thursday night. When looked at in other currencies, the AWEX EMI moved up by 4¢ (+0.8%) in US terms and was down by 9¢ (-2.2%) in Euro terms when compared with the previous sale.

As was the case last week, the direction of the market largely followed the changes in the US exchange rate with the EMI down by 1.1% and the US exchange rate up by 1.9%. The effects were generally seen across all Merino micron ranges, except for the 19.0 and 19.5 micron wools where the price falls were greater than for other Merino wools.

Changes in the AWEX Micron Price Guides (MPGs) for Merino wools varied from -3.1% (19.5 microns) and -2.2% (19.0 microns) to +0.1% (22.0 microns). Other changes were mostly between -1.0% and -0.5% with no apparent pattern. Average MPGs were down by 9¢ clean for 16.5 microns, by 17¢ for 17.0 microns, by 10¢ for 17.5 microns, by 1¢ for 18.0 microns, by 7¢ for 18.5 microns, by 22¢ for 19.0 microns and by 28¢ for 19.5 microns. The 20.0 micron wool average MPG was down by 6¢ clean, 21.0 microns was unchanged, 22.0 microns was up by 1¢, 23.0 microns was down by 7¢, and 24.0 microns was up by 1¢.

Prices for Merino skirtings eased on Wednesday, but recovered on Thursday, particularly in the South where wools of 19 microns and less and below 3% VM were reported to have gained around 20¢ greasy. Crossbred prices eased slightly, with their average MPGs down by 6 to 10¢, except for 30 micron wools where the average MPG was unchanged. It was a good week for oddments with the AWEX Merino Cardings average MPG up by 6¢ (+1.3%) for the week.

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