In the tenth week of the 2023-2024 wool marketing season, Australian wool auctions witnessed a turbulent start but managed to regain stability towards the end of the week, according to the Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) commentary.

Merino wools bore the brunt of the early week losses, seeing a drop between 10 and 50ac. In contrast, crossbred wools demonstrated resilience, even garnering a 15ac increase in the initial trading sessions. However, the weakening of the Australian dollar against the US dollar, coupled with fresh business opportunities emerging overnight on Tuesday, propelled a swift market recovery.

This uplift in sentiment was especially prominent in the WA market at Fremantle, which experienced a substantial buying pressure leading to an appreciation in all prices ranging between 25 to 40ac by the week’s end. Strong indents from China predominantly drove the auction purchases of Merino lists, while two local traders significantly backed the market.

Despite this rebound, the market observed a cautious approach from the largest exporter, who, while maintaining an active participation in buying volumes, abstained from contributing to the upward price push. The trend was similarly echoed by the two top direct buying top makers, who opted for seizing opportune lots rather than dictating the market price.

Interestingly, the selling season maintained its trajectory with wool growers fervently offering and selling, resulting in only 7.5 per cent of the volume failing to meet the reserve. Remarkably, this has resulted in a 0.9 per cent increase in bale sales compared to the same period last season, even amidst a 7.4 per cent dip in the tested rate through the test house, as evidenced by the AWTA key test data.

Looking ahead, around 40,000 bales of Australian-grown wool are slated to be up for sale in the coming week, indicating a buzzing marketplace, potentially steering towards a vibrant trading landscape as stakeholders hold hopeful for more positive fluctuations in the ever-dynamic wool market.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)

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