Market Intelligence
Weekly Wool Market Commentary
Moses & Son is committed to providing our valued customers the most current information and data to empower your decision-making process. Discover our latest Australian wool market weekly update below, along with archived reports for your perusal and analysis.
2024-S33
The AWEX EMI closed on 1192c, down 23c at auction sales in Australia this week. This movement represented the largest EMI fall since August 24. The offering crept up to 40,605 bales, of which 86% were sold (the lowest clearance since August 2023. The expectations for the market entering this week’s sale was mixed but there was evidence that the previous weeks rises in the MPG’s had spooked the Chinese processors and traders. The competition in the sale rooms we experienced last week from Italy and India seemed to evaporate as the week progressed. The EMI fell 9c on Tuesday and another 14c on Wednesday. Currency played some role in the hefty EMI correction with the AUD increasing to .629 USC with the EMI in USD falling to 750c (-10).
Merino Fleece
This week Melbourne hosted a Tasmanian Specialty Superfine sale. The market opened on Tuesday with Melbourne and Fremantle posting solid losses of 10-25c experienced in the fine and superfine categories. The result was in Sydney were moderate compared to the other selling centres and ranged between +2 to -12c. Unfortunately, Wednesday’s market saw a general wholesale fall across all selling centres with the MPG downward adjustments ranging from 15-45c taking us back to pre-Xmas levels. At the end of the week the Northern MPG’s were substantially dearer than their southern counterparts. This highlights the need to maintain the northern region selling centre, as some brokers are moving their selling centre preference south.
Merino Skirtings
Merino Skirtings saw Tuesday’s results return good support for the best FNF Skirting lots however the higher VM lots were 10c cheaper by the days close. Wednesday market opened saw the buyer support maintain, however despite the knitting market maintain reasonable demand the prices drifted slightly and closed in favour of the buyer.
Merino Cardings
Merino Cardings were generally unchanged on opening with Locks, Crutchings and Stains holding firm on Tuesday and posting small rises in price levels on Wednesday, there was some weakness in Locks with VM > 8%.
Crossbred Fleece
Crossbred Oddments
Crossbreds
Crossbreds fleece lots 28 µ and coarser held relatively close on to last week’s levels with some irregularity emerging for lots outside the preferred specifications. There was better support this week for the best specified 25-26 Micron fleece types.
Next Week
estimated offering climbs to 44,748 bales, however I think the news of this week’s retracement in the merino fleece values will drop what goes under the hammer to below 40,000. The early market intelligence is indicating the new merino fleece price levels formed this week will be generally maintained within a few cents of this week’s levels next week. ~ Marty Moses.
Graphs
Market Commentary
It seems that the market confidence post Xmas was built on false hopes and short-term deliveries. Wednesday closing levels was a clear signal that the wool market’s recovery still has some challenges. The “snakes and ladder” style market, whilst extremely disappointing, highlights that, lower quantities alone is not enough to instigate a sustained rise in this market. For the market participants to regain confidence, demand must improve substantially. Whilst there are a few flickers of hope at retail, the changes at the customer end needs more time to rectify the Inflationary pressures that has had the brakes on consumer spending.