Wool sales resumed after the 3 week annual winter recess. Of course with the break came an increase in volume - upwards of 50,000 bales rostered (8,800 more than Sale 2) but around 4,000 bales shy of the corresponding sale last year. As is always the case after a recess buyers were keen to talk the market down due to the big offering. Apparently, following Sale 2, a major buyer put offers out 20/30 cents below where the market finished and these offers were snapped up by Chinese mills and showfloor talk had the market retreating by up to 100/150 cents. The market opened on Tuesday with the anticipated fall of 10 to 30 cents for all fleece microns bar 18/18.5s. Was this the start of the 150 cent fall?? Thankfully not - a complete change in sentiment entered the auction rooms for the final 2 days to have < 19.5 micron to the good by 10 to 75 cents as broader types lost 10 to 20 cents. The AWEX EMI added a modest 6 cents to 1990 and 18 cents to 1480 in US$ terms as the FRX has barely moved either side of 74 cents for a month. One thing of note was the discounts for < 2% VM in fleece lots looking to have gone back to very little or, in some cases with the right specs, no penalty, some lots up to 20 cents above the indicator. Even burry types > 2% looked to have their discounts softened when compared to end June/early July when these penalties looked excessive.

Skirtings followed the lead of the fleece types, an opening cheaper session followed by renewed buyer activity to end the sale to have all descriptions and VM levels 20 dearer for the week. Cardings also mirrored their merino counterparts. After a cheaper opening session they came home with a wet sail to finish the week 10 to 20 cents higher. Crossbreds also took their lead from the merino sector but a last day recovery couldn’t push them into positive territory. The losses were in fact heavy, 26s down by 90 cents while 28 to 30 micron fell by 35 to 50 cents whereas the broader microns were unchanged. These big falls probably attributed to the Northern Hemisphere shearing still under way which is virtually all XB wool leading to an over-supply of > 26 micron wool.