Wk 38 23/03/2017 The AWEX EMI closed on 1546c at auction sales in Australia this week. The headline “no change in the AWEX EMI”, does not really describe the different market forces at play on the micron price guides over the week.
There is no doubt that the 50,000 bale offering was met with some caution in the medium Merino MPG’s – as the ‘finer the wool, the larger the rise’ trend kept the superfine wool dream alive, while it inches towards all-time record levels.
The 19 and 19.5 MPG’s held steady, however, the 20 and coarser Merino’s fell up to 30c on last week’s levels, especially the coarser Merino microns with the major percentage of the falls declining in the last few hours of Thursday’s market close. Buyers had the luxury of a greater selection in the medium and coarse Merino lots, with the added pressure of an increase in the medium and heavy VM lots.Skirtings mirrored the fleece (fine up, medium flat and coarse down), whilst the 25-26 micron Crossbreds gained 10c, 28 and 30 micron lost 10c.Cardings were very similar to previous weeks, however closed the week up to 7c cheaper.
This week the national turnover from wool sold at auction in Australia since the start of the financial year exceeded $2bn – setting yet another record.Next week’s offering of 46,500 bales should be met with the same level of buyer interest, as the fundamental drivers of the current market remain at an imbalance in the demand/supply curve for ultra and superfine wool, fine wool, and as we go coarser in the Merino MPG’s, the demand/supply becomes more balanced. ~Marty Moses
Mike Avery reports an interesting week on both the auction and forward markets. After more than 20 auction days of gains, most Merino qualities gave ground into the weeks close. SAW traded 117 tonnes for the week with the forward markets finishing the week on a cautious note after posting strong hedging levels into June/July and out until the spring. Post Easter 21.0 traded to a new high of 1455 on Tuesday, before closing yesterday, down 30c mirroring the auction decline. New season bids held up well and although we expect some easing in levels through next week, hopefully sound hedging opportunities prevail.We expect interest to hold on the 21.0 through May and June, around 1420 easing to 1380 into the early spring, and 1360 into the end of the year. 19.0 micron levels are 1750 August, but fall away to 1700 September and 1650 into the end of the year.
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