WEEKLY MARKET REPORT

Week Ending 30^th March, 2018

AWEX Northern Micron Indices Comparison

NO EASTER EGGS OR SHOWBAGS FOR BUYERS THIS YEAR!!

Growers were looking forward to selling at the showcase sale to be held at the Royal Easter Show this week as the 3 previous years has seen the market rise but last Thursday’ s softening market would have had all sellers nervous. The forecast increase in quantity saw buyers release the pressure valve regarding buying strategies as the urgency to buy wool was negated by the predicted 47,000 bales. This quantity, as is always the case, didn’t eventuate as 44,800 were offered. This did not help the market though as the EMI slid 6 cents to 1772, Sydney back by 15 cents and Melbourne adding just 1 cent to its previous level. A decrease in the FRX to below 77 cents didn’t help the market either but saw the EMI (in US$ terms) also drop by 13 cents to 1364. Losses were across all the merino fleece micron ranges to 21, the least affected was 17 micron losing 10 cents while all others saw 20 to 50 cents peeled off their values as 22s and broader posted gains of 10 cents. Again, the high mid-break with high VM levels and colour/cott types were discounted heavily but lots displaying the right “specs” in most cases were solid to dearer when compared to the previous series.

Skirtings looked to have escaped the cheaper trend of the fleece room as finer lots < 18 micron and with VM < 5% came back by 10/20 cents while broader types, regardless of VM levels, remained unchanged. Cardings recorded modest rises as the MCI in Sydney edged ahead by just 2 cents to 1332. The other 2 centres also gained ground for the series as Melbourne put on 14 cents to 1341 and the stand-out of any sector was the cardings in Fremantle where their MCI added a whopping 57 cents to its value to finish at 1310 cents. Crossbreds also continued on their good run as all indicators were quoted up to 20 cents dearer.

A bit of a disappointment as the market slid for the 8^th selling day from the last 10. The sale couldn’t produce last year’s meteoric rises for the EMI of 53 cents or the good rise of 12 cents from the previous 2 years. Most growers were still happy to meet the market as just 6% of fleece was passed-in, 29 bales of skirtings not sold (1.2%), oddments and XBs cleared over 96%. In the 12 sales since the resumption in January the market opened at 1760 and peaked at 1834 on Wednesday, 28^th February, with the lowest point at exactly 100 cents (1734) behind the peak a month earlier on 31^st January. The carding market peaked at an incredible 1546 on the 16^th January only to record a huge correction over the following 2 weeks to its lowest point of 1292 on the last day of that month.

Everyone now takes a one week recess to catch their breath from a frantic 12 sales and try to work out how the market will play out through till June. The underlying factors of supply and demand will hold sway for the most part with the FRX, weekly quantities and the deteriorating quality of wool entering the market will also influence buyers purchasing strategies. Next sales volumes have exploded from 48,800 to over 57,000 bales, buyers will be under no pressure to chase wool unless a heap of business is done over the next week.

Main Buyers (this week)