WEEKLY MARKET REPORT

Week Ending 6^th February, 2015

AWEX Northern Micron Indices Comparison

HIGHEST POINT FOR TWO YEARS!

Another good week for the wool market, some might even say great, as double digit rises were the order of the day. All three centres recorded double digit gains on both selling days. The market improved as the further south and west we went. Fremantle was up by 41 cents, now 1107, with Melbourne adding 32 cents to 1084. Sydney’s rise was the smallest but still jumped by 29 cents to 1127. The EMI (a combination of the north and south) is 1101, a level not achieved since February, 2013.  The 31 cent jump in the EMI was the largest weekly climb in 17 months.

The signs were good early in the week that buyers were chasing wool as over 550 bales had been sold on Wooltrade by Tuesday afternoon. The interest rate cut on Tuesday saw the exchange rate peel 1 cent off to be at 75 US cents after this announcement. This looked to be the impetus for the market to move ahead as all microns added 30 to 55 cents. There are still good premiums around for good spec lots. An 18.2 lot from Coolah made 100 cents better than the indicator, this lot to China, not Italy as we may have thought and a 21.9 lot from Brewarrina with 3% VM bringing an FNF price. While discounts for VM and colour may have shrunk over the past 3 sales, big penalties still exist for tender high mid-break lots but some over-long sound types looked to have made some improvement in price.

Room 2 types also benefitted from better buyer demand but, not to the extent of the fleece room. The best style fine skirtings moved ahead by up to 50 cents as medium types (regardless of VM) added 20 cents to their values. Three lots of pieces from Nyngan that contained 20% VM with a yield of 38% made 370 to 380 cents and for their bellies with 36% VM and a yield of 24% made 190 cents. Not too many years ago these bellies were only worth 50 cents! This week’s rise in the carding market of an average of 32 cents across the three centres now re-writes the record books for this sector - their MCI’s now 872 to 891 cents, as all types jumped 20 to 40 cents under increased buyer activity. This is far better than even the heady days of the late 1980’s! Crossbreds weren’t left lagging either as increases in the order of 20 to 35 cents for all types and microns were commonplace. At 809 cents 28 micron are at the best level since 2002 with the other XB microns at 8 to 10 year highs. Crossbred lambs commonly range in price from 400 to well over 600 cents.

Clearance rates on the eastern seaboard rose to over 96 %.  Types finer than 18 micron have led the charge adding 115 to 130 cents to their values since the New Year with cardings and crossbreds also rewarding growers with excellent returns. Quantities over the next month or so should be around mid to high 40,000s provided the market isn’t swamped with wool from “hold”. We sell late next Wednesday with 930 bales on offer, with a good market the big tip.

Just a reminder that it’s only 2 weeks till the Woolstore open day and Last Chance Ram Sale on Saturday, 21^st February. There will be over a dozen studs with rams for sale and a demonstration of a sheep auto drafter and the core machine in action from 11-12 midday. Jimmy Jackson from AWI will be our guest speaker and, in light of what the market has done lately, his take on things will be interesting to say the least.

Ag Concepts Fwd Prices at 6 February, 2015

Main Buyers (This Week)