WEEKLY MARKET REPORT

Week Ending 8^th May, 2015

 AWEX Northern Micron Indices Comparison

MARKET ROARS AWAY BUT …

We can have no hesitation in describing this sale’s rise a “bull run”. The market exploded into action on the opening day to record a 55 cent leap for the EMI followed by a gentle 14 cent gain on the final day. This equates to the EMI jumping 69 cents to 1241, as the 3 regional centres are all now well over the 1200 mark. In US terms the indicator rose 54 cents to 990 as the A$ was unaffected by the interest rate cut on Tuesday trading above 79 cents for most of the week as nervous global stock markets are keeping the US$ from appreciating.

Individual micron increases were astonishing. Two indicators, 16.5 and 17.5, cracked the 100 cent rise with 17s up 99 cents. All other indicators finer than 19.5 lifted 80 to 95 cents with the medium and broader types all up by 70 odd cents. As is the case when the market is “on fire” discounts for any fault were negligible. One 24 NKT lot was only 6 cents from its indicator, with a 20 NKT with 1.4 VM just 17 cents shy of its indicator. At the other end of the scale a superfine clip from Merriwa attracted premiums of 35 to 60 cents above their indicators.

Skirtings weren’t outdone either. The opening day’s report had them gaining 80 to 100 cents with a subtle lift on the final day to record weekly rises of 90 to 110 cents regardless of type, style or VM, unbelievable!!  Warren PCS made over 600 cents with carbonising BLS from Cobar making low 400s.  Cardings continue to reach new levels as all 3 regional centres now have their MCIs over 1000 cents, ranging from 1051 to 1015 cents. All types and descriptions posted 35 to 50 cent rises. LKS are making up to mid 600 cents while a line of CRT from Coonabarabran made 802 cents - a clean price of 1150. This was the price for 21 micron fleece wool in mid March!! Crossbreds weren’t to be denied either, but their increases not to the extent of the merino sector. Medium types to 30 micron benefitted from a 25 to 35 cent rise while the broader end >32s looked to be 10 dearer. We had a 26 micron fleece lot make 752 while 23 micron LMS made 729 and 22 micron LMS PCS sold for 689 cents.

A great week to sell wool as Wednesday’s sale room frantic pace could nearly be described as “panic buying”. We were fortunate enough to sell on Thursday to get the full benefit of the rise. The strong market left just 1.1% passed in - the highest clearance rate for 19 years. Sydney and Fremantle cleared 99.45% of their catalogues on Wednesday while Melbourne outdid them on Thursday selling 99.7%. National fleece clearances were 99.2% while just 0.3% (14 from 4760 bales) of skirtings on the east coast were not sold. Not since September, 2013, have we seen weekly rises over 50 cents but still some distance from the dizzy heights of June, 2011 (EMI was +1400, 21s 1500 and 18s over 2000!!). We may well see the brakes put on the market next week as 41,800 bales will be on offer. Quantity won’t be the problem but the extent of this week’s rise may be.

Ag Concepts Fwd Prices at 8 May

Main Buyers (This Week)