WEEKLY MARKET REPORT

Week Ending 8th March 2013

AWEX Northern Micron Indices Comparison

          BACK TO SYDNEY – ALL’S GOOD!

With the forecast of a large national offering (57,000 bales) market predictions were varied for this week’s sale. By week’s end the catalogue had reduced to 54,300 but, as far as we were concerned, a big catalogue, selling last on Thursday and coming off a Newcastle sale had cause for not a great deal of confidence that the market could be firm or even increase in value. Melbourne’s opening didn’t instill us with any more confidence as 18.5 and finer and 21 micron and broader drifted 10 cents lower. All 3 centres came on line on Wednesday and recorded good increases across the 18 to 23 indicators, jumping 5 to 25 cents, with most emphasis in Fremantle. Finer types in Sydney suffered from the dreaded “Newcastle style adjustment” giving up 5 to 15 cents. Thursday’s market continued on from the previous day to add another 5 to 10 cents across the board with the fine lots (under 18 micron) settling down. Medium indicators fared the best as 19 to 22s gained 15 to 30 cents in all 3 centres. Fine types in the 17.5 to 18.5 range tended in sellers’ favour with the super-fine lots 5 to 15 cents back from the previous sales cracking selection from the New England. The EMI rose 7 cents to be at 1116. This small rise broke a four week run where the EMI fell by 30 cents. The best performing market was in Fremantle as a 20 cent rise has it’s indicator at 1151 - the best of the three regional indicators with Sydney at 1141 and Melbourne on 1099.

Skirtings started the sale in poor fashion as the comparison to Newcastle was too much to handle. The light VM lots bore the brunt of the falls, being reduced by 20 to 30 cents with the 5% and burrier types losing 10 to 15 cents. Thursday saw the market steady with finer types in buyers’ favour and the broader pieces and bellies tending a little dearer. What is noticeable this season is the superior style we are seeing. With the lack of rain in the spring, there is less burr and far less cott and jowl evident due to the lack of rain and tall grass that sheep were contending with over the past few wet summers. The carding market finally took a breather and lost 10 cents to sit at 748 cents. This may be due to the largest daily offering this season in Sydney. All types and descriptions were 10 to 20 cents cheaper. Fine to medium crossbreds looked 10 to 25 cents dearer.

Things have been relatively quiet on the OJD front for a while, until this week. The Wellington branch of NSW Farmers held an information day with several expert speakers addressing the big crowd. The consensus was that a commonsense approach should prevail with no lines on maps determining boundaries of “infected or free” areas. The LHPA vet from Yass spoke and stated that since the Gundair vaccine had been introduced in that region, growers had seen a dramatic reduction in sheep suffering from the effects of OJD, now down to a bare minimum. O  ne can only hope that other risk areas in the state follow the lead from Yass and vaccinations become widespread.

Great to see the market rebound with solid rises in the middle micron ranges. Viterra flexed their muscle to purchase over 10,000 bales - 18% of the national offering. A distant 2^nd was Techwool, Lempriere and Fox & Lillie, all buying between 4000 and 4500 bales each. National catalogues now will average around 46,000 bales for the next three weeks leading up to Easter. This coupled with the exchange rate at just over parity, 102 cents, and reasonable demand should see a steady, if not dearer, market for the fore-seeable future. We will offer a catalogue of 550 bales on Wednesday.

Ag Concepts Fwd Price Trades W/E 8 March, 2013

Eastern Market Indicators (AUD cents/kg clean)                              AUD/USD Currency Exchange

1116 cents é  7 cents compared with 28/02/2013                              1.0252 ê 0.0028 compared with 28/02/2013

Northern Market Indicators (AUD cents/kg clean)

1141 cents é  4 cents compared with 28/02/2013