Solid support for superfine with rises of 15 to 50c/kg

Wool-3THE AWEX EMI came under pressure at auction sales in Australia last week, closing at 1558c down 14c.

The offering crept back up to 45,838 this week and despite Wednesday’s cheaper market, 90% was cleared to the trade.

The opening market lacked any depth in the orders from the exporters pushing Wednesday’s EMI down by 23c on the previous weeks close.

Reports of new business being done into China on Wednesday night injected new enthusiasm in the market, reversing the previous day’s trend, and recouping some of the earlier losses in the EMI and MPG’s.

Fremantle sat out of last week’s sale and therefore their WMI movement was exacerbated by the culmination of markets over the two week period (-71).

On a brighter note Sydney saw solid support on the first designated Superfine offering for the year with the 16.5 to 18µ MPG’s rising between 15 to 50c with the best style and lowest VM lots attracting extremely bullish bidding, mainly destined for Italy.

The medium MPG’s lost between 20-40c with the 21 MPG most affected. It is interesting to note the ratio of Merino fleece wool under 1% VM is down by 10.2% YOY.

Skirtings generally fell by 20-30c with best style lots containing under 3% VM attracting relatively good money. Whilst the 5-10% VM lots were heavily discounted they still represent good value from a seller’s point of view.

Crossbreds lost ground on both days and attracted a high pass in rate in all centres with a whopping 42% of the small Fremantle offering being passed in.

The Merino Cardings Indices continued to lose ground with 13-16c lost in Melbourne and Sydney respectively and 56c being peeled off the Western MC over the two week period.

Currency was all over the place during the week with the AUD testing close to 80c before falling back to 78.74USC later in the week.

The World financial markets were closely watching the North Korean missile activity and its impact on the US stock market. We certainly live in interesting times with a list of very strong personalities at the helm of our destiny.

Mike Avery from Southern Aurora Wool reports another tough week for the spot market. Prices fell 30 to 50 cents on Wednesday.

Growers took advantage with trades early in the week into the New Year at solid levels highlighted by January and February traded at 1800 for 19.0 microns and 21.0 trading to 1475 for August 2018.

As with last week forward prices continued to execute in the high percentile bands for key micron groups. Buyers returned to the market on Thursday and presented a stronger hedging base than earlier in the week. ~ Marty Moses, Moses & Son, Temora