WEEKLY MARKET REPORT

Week Ending 3^rd October, 2014

AWEX Northern Micron Indices Comparison

GRATEFUL FOR ANYTHING!

As reported last week, there were signs that we might be in for a solid market this week. As Macwool was first cab off the rank on Wednesday we can’t claim to have had the best of the week but it was a good sale for anything with reasonable strength and low VM, with few potholes. Many people have been asking why the market hasn’t reacted better to the lower dollar which dipped under 87 cents US at one stage through the week. Well the short answer is that the majority of the offering hasn’t been good enough (at least in the strength department) to engage buyers into a buying frenzy. One example this week of a significant clip we offered saw the highest staple strength at 30 and mid breaks between 72% and 94%. Nationally this week only 35% of the adult fleece offering had a mid break less than 50%. Despite this, the week generally moved higher over the two days and Wooltrade was very busy yesterday and this morning as buyers scrounged to clean up and fill orders.

Merino skirtings and oddments were generally strong and posted small gains, however, we did notice a few of the high VM skirting lines a bit harder to gain good competition on, particularly as some of these have come from areas that received good autumn and winter rain and are containing a fair amount of colour as well.

Crossbred wools also edged higher and are closing the gap on a three year high; 28 microns had a very good week rising 13 cents to be within 10 cents of the peak. These types generally react quicker to currency movements so it was no surprise to see them dearer.

A few positives can be taken form this week looking forward. It appears the Aussie dollar isn’t about to rebound so buyers can be more positive about currency. The plethora of high mid break wools will decrease and we are already seeing fresh shorn clips showing the break split between mid and base now, which will help. Exporters are confident that the processing pipeline of raw stocks isn’t unseasonably high (unlike cotton) and quantities of supply are slightly below last year’s production figures. End of September test data from AWTA shows YTD weight down 0.2% compared to last year. Queensland continues to be a basket case down a further 41%, whilst Tasmania and SA are showing increases over 10%. NSW and Victoria are close to unchanged. AWEX offerings YTD show almost 17,000 bales less than last year; much of this could be sitting in broker’s stores.

It has been heartening to see the positive results from Ram Sales in recent weeks with many of our stud clients achieving record averages and clearances and one client, Kerin Poll, achieved the highest grossing sale of the season nationally. Next week stud clients, Cassilis Park, will hold their annual sale here at the Woolstore on Wednesday afternoon and Haddon Rig will hold theirs on property on Thursday 9^th. The following week Wyuna will sell Tuesday 14^th, Allendale on Thursday 16^th and Bella Lana on Friday 17^th with Grogansworth at Yass finishing the ram sale season for us on Monday 20^th.

42,151 bales are rostered for next week (about 2,000 less than this week) in all three centres with Macwool set to offer on Thursday the 9^th.

Main Buyers (This Week)