Finer microns strengthened at opening while crossbred combing wools hard to sell

Merino Skirtings opened down 10-20c on the December closing levels but as exporters gained confidence, the early price falls turned into a fully firm market for the skirting selection. Buyers aggressively chased the best style, low VM and well specified lots.

The AWEX EMI closed on 1333c – up 6c as auction sales resumed after a three week recess with 50,509 going under the hammer with a creditable clearance rate of 88.8% in the opening sale.

Brokers entered the sale rooms on Tuesday with the early market intelligence predicting the market to open slightly cheaper compared to the December 15 close.

Exporters reported business being transacted over the three week recess into China and India. The market opened in line with the intel recording slightly weaker levels early on Tuesday.

Wednesday’s market seem to have a more confident tone which converted into a positive result for the EMI. With follow on business forthcoming on Wednesday evening, the markets momentum escalated as the week progressed into Thursday.

From last sale the Foreign Exchange rates saw the AUD rise to 69.11c – up .63c since December 15th taking the EMI up to 921USc – up 13 USc.

Merino Fleece opened on Tuesday as you would expect with exporters being very selective in the opening ½ hour. From that point on, the finer MPG’s progressively strengthened, especially on the best specified and prepared lots.

At the end of Tuesday’s auction, most MPG’s remained within 5-15c of the previous market levels with the exception of fleece lots coarser than 19.5µ which posted 20-35c losses on the day.

Wednesday saw the market continue to gain confidence adding another 5-50c to the finer MPG’s. The exceptions to this once again were in the 20-21µ range.

We are currently experiencing some of the highest yields on record for our district and coupled with extremely low VM this means the catalogues are suitable to a wider number of orders. The large Australian Based Traders and Chinese Topmakers dominating the purchasing.

Merino Skirtings opened down 10-20c on the December closing levels but as exporters gained confidence, the early price falls turned into a fully firm market for the skirting selection. Buyers aggressively chased the best style, low VM and well specified lots.

Crossbred’s 26-28.5 micron XB combing wools remain harder to sell despite the ongoing low price base. With over 11,000 bales on offer nationally, exporters were extremely selective in their purchasing with the XB MPG’s giving back 10-15c for the week. With quantities of XB hitting their peak, I am concerned that the sub 28.5 could suffer further losses next week.

Merino Cardings held firm on the December closing market levels with competition coming from a wide range of buyers. Crossbred oddments held their pre Xmas levels.

It seems with the Chinese government relaxing their COVID lockdown policies and increased purchasing from India, we now have some short term competitive tension in the market. Concerns over increased cases of COVID overloading hospitals in China may take its toll on people movement as self-regulated isolation will be the next thing to watch.

The key expectations for 2023 are that:- Energy will remain expensive; The Russian Ukraine war will not end; Interest rates will peak; Inflation will cool off;  the risk of a global recession will remain high; India will have a strong year; China’s economy may bounce back and European unity will be tested. Source:- Global Forecast Series Prediction Database 11/01/23

Next week, sales resume with 51,203 bales scheduled to be offered on Tuesday & Wednesday in all centres and once again Melbourne will offer in isolation on Thursday.

~ Marty Moses, Moses and Son