AUSTRALIA-Wool market slips 1.9pc
The Australian wool market finished 1.9pc lower, on average, at sales in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle this week.
The eastern market indicator (EMI) fell by 13ยข/kg, ending the week at 730ยข/kg.
The EMI fell by 9ยข/kg on Tuesday, by 3ยข on Wednesday and by 1ยข on Thursday.
Again, the rising $A this week has been a key contributing reason to the fall in auction prices on their opening days of selling.
But once having reached a new price level in US currency, the market stabilised in $A terms, allowing buyers to bid with some confidence, the Australian Wool Industries Secretariat says.
Closing values for the regional indicators were:
โข Northern indicator, down 13ยข/kg, to 756ยข/kg.
โข Southern indicator, also down 13ยข/kg, to 709ยข/kg.
โข The western indicator fell the most, by 16ยข/kg, or 2.2pc, finishing the week at 702ยข/kg.
The western indicator fell by 18ยข/kg on Wednesday and rose by 2ยข/kg on Thursday, in a two day sale in Fremantle.
A total of 49,571 bales were on offer, down from the previous week’s 47,604 bales, of which 16.7pc were passed in.
The US exchange rate had risen to US65.80ยข by the end of Thursday’s sale, 2.2pc since last week’s sale.
The exchange rate against the euro rose by 1.6pc, to close at 50.96 euro cents on Thursday night.
So, when looked at in other currencies, the EMI actually rose up by 2ยข/kg in US terms but was down by 1ยข/kg in euro terms, when compared with the previous sale.
The Melbourne sale on Tuesday included a high proportion of Tasmanian wool (55pc) that would have been sold in Launceston in the past.
Prices paid for Tasmanian wool stored in Tasmania take into account the additional cost of moving the wool to Melbourne for overseas shipment.