Week 46: 18/05/2017 The AWEX EMI closed down 12c at auction sales in Australia this week. The EMI closed the week on 1522c, however the EMI expressed in USD posting an 8c rise.

In what was anticipated as a delicate market environment after a poor closing trend last week, the market opened firmly on Wednesday and drifted slightly on Thursday.

The 35,020 bale offering comprised of a high percentage of lots containing medium and high VM when compared to last year. The price pressure in the Fleece and Skirting types containing medium and high VM could be helping low VM Skirting and FNF Fleece maintain the current levels. The Three centres seemed to perform autonomously this week with the Northern MPG’s operating within a few cents of last week’s levels (NMI -3c), conversely, Southern MPG’s lost between 15 and 37c for the week (SMI -21c). Western MPG’s ended up on the positive side (+8c). Skirtings were driven by their VM content with good support on the low VM and FNF types and a cheaper market on the medium and high VM lots.

The Comeback Fleece types attracted good interest – increasing their MPG’s by 5-10c, whilst the FX and MX lots fell by 10-18c.

Cardings performed well with minute movements from last week, with the Southern Carding indicator posting a 3c fall, whilst the Northern Carding indicator added 5c to last week’s total.

I believe next week’s offering of 37,348 bales will be in the hands of the suitability of the ‘indent buyers’, i.e. lots that meet the indent specifications will perform well, whilst the lots outside will have challenges to face relating to VM content, style, colour and other processing barriers like dermo.

Moses & Son has received a number of calls from clients about to shear asking about making a Micron specific line to capture any premiums in the market. This is a complex question that requires some analysis and therefore each case should be individually discussed with their Wool Technical Officer in order to achieve the best net outcome.  ~ Marty Moses

Market Report (PDF)