The softer tone evident in the stand‑alone Melbourne sale at the end of the previous series has carried into this week, pushing prices lower across all sectors in the Australian wool market this week.
On the opening day it was immediately apparent that that the prices on offer were well below those achieved in the previous sales, particularly in Sydney and Fremantle, as these centres did not suffer the losses felt in Melbourne on Thursday last week. The major falls were in the merino fleece types and by the end of the day the individual Micron Price Guides (MPGs) for merino fleece had dropped by between 4 and 49 cents. The only exception was the 17 and 17.5 micron MPGs in Melbourne which were unchanged and +3 respectively. These reductions were the impetus behind the AWEX Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) dropping by 12 cents for the day.
On the second day, the market fell again, although the falls were relatively minimal. The MPGs movements ranged between +5 and ‑18 cents. The EMI lost another 6 cents, losing a total of 18 cents for the series, closing at 1300 cents.
In a familiar pattern, currency again played a large part in the market movements of this series. A strengthening Australian dollar meant that when viewed in US dollar terms the market performed more robustly. The EMI lost only 3 US cents for the series. The last time the EMI was at this point was back in December. The EMI is now 69 cents lower than where is sat in the corresponding sale of the 2022/23 season. The market now heads into a one‑week recess.
Sales will resume in the week beginning Monday the 17th of April, with wool continuing to accumulate over the break, Week 42 is expected to be a large sale, currently there are over 54,000 bales forecast to be offered nationally.