AWIS wool market review - week ending 10 September 2010 (Week 10)

The Australian wool market finished 0.9% lower, on average, at sales on Tuesday and Wednesday in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle this week when the US exchange rate rose by 0.8%.

37,063 bales were on offer, compared with 35,484 bales last week. 15.4% were passed in, comprised of 12.3% in Sydney, 14.7% in Melbourne and 22.3% in Fremantle. Pass-in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 16.7% and 10.6%, respectively.

948 bales (2.5%) from the expected offering of 38,011 bales were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered bales made up 12.8% of the final offering. 31,340 bales were cleared to the trade.

The New Zealand Merino Company also offered 1,291 bales in Melbourne on Tuesday of which 14.5% were passed.

The US exchange rate has again risen.  It appears to have been partly driven by good economic data from China.

This week’s market opened on a mixed note on Tuesday with falls in all three centres, most noticeably in the South where the Southern Indicator was down by 7¢. The changes were less in US currency. There were further, but more moderate, falls on Wednesday. Overall, the fine wools again did better than the medium and broad Merino types. The Northern market did very well coming off last week’s Newcastle sale.

Demand for skirting types was again very keen on Tuesday and remained either firm, or slightly down, on Wednesday. Crossbred prices all eased, but mostly the changes were in line with the change in exchange rates. Demand eased for all Oddment types this week, with the average AWEX Merino Cardings Price Guide down by 29¢ (-4.8%).

Buyers for China were again dominant followed by buyers for Europe and India.

Sales will be held in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle next week, when 40,043 bales are currently rostered for sale. Present estimates for the following two sales (Weeks 12 and 13) are 45,136 and 43,800 bales, respectively; an increase of 2.5% over the three sale period when compared with last year. The New Zealand Merino Company is rostered to offer 2,500 bales in Week 12.

In South African sales, the Cape Wools Indicator was down by 2.4% since last week’s sale two weeks ago against a 1.3% depreciation of the Rand against the US Dollar and 1.6% depreciation against the Euro. 7,188 bales were on offer.