Australian wool auctions resume; subdued tone amid abundant supply

The majority of the recess saw the Australian dollar hover above the 0.67 mark against the US dollar which perhaps explained the thinly distributed new business opportunities. Just two days prior to sales re-opening, that forex rate had plunged almost 3 per cent to around the 0.65 mark. This led to widespread expectations from the trade of strong auction participation from the indent operators for mainly the Chinese first stage top-makers who were able to take advantage of that far more advantageous rate, the Australian Wool Innovation Limited (AWI) said in its commentary for sale week 6 of the ongoing Australian wool marketing season.

“Those market results were fully met with the two largest Chinese top makers dominating the Merino fleece sector of the offering. Apart from the spirited bidding against each other, significant competition emanated from the export trading houses. These local entities seemingly concentrated on their clients’ buying orders and some forward contract completions. The crossbred buying was similarly destined for first stage manufacturers with good trader support, but the carding and merino skirting sectors were the purchasing domain of traders,” the AWI commentary added.

Whilst Individual type sectors within the merino fleece segment were down 15/20ac, most other descriptions sold firm to slightly dearer. Of most interest from buyers were the crossbred fleece finer than 30 micron which gained 15ac, lower (less than 4 per cent) vm merino skirtings were fully firm to 10ac dearer and cardings generally 5 to 10ac dearer.

Close to 47,000 bales are currently rostered to sell next week.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)