Weekly Market Wrap

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With Brian Vagg, Melbourne

March 21, 2008

Fleeces remain firm before recess

A SMALLER national offering of just over 44,600 bales was put under the hammer this week due to there being no wool sale in Western Australia.

On Tuesday the Australian dollar was trading at just over 92 US cents and there was good support for the better fleece types.

In the south, the 17-21 micron fleece increased by 5-7 cents per kilogram and the 22-24 micron types jumped by around 15c/kg.

In the north, the finer fleece lost some ground, with the 17-18.5 micron fleece shedding about 15c/kg. This was not assisted by the selection in this category.

In Sydney, the 20-23 micron received similar support to the south, with most of these microns increasing 5-7c/kg. The skirtings remained firm in both regions on Tuesday, however locks and crutchings fell by around 20c/kg at both centres.

On Wednesday, with the Australian dollar trading nearly 1c firmer at just over 93 US cents, the 18.5-19.5 Merino fleece dipped 5-8c/kg in both regions. But this could be attributed to the less stylish selection rather than currency.

The broader microns remained firm in both regions and crossbred fleece was slightly easier. The stains, locks and crutchings also lost around 10c/kg in both regions.

Most of the fleece types are still trading in the 80 or 90 per cent decile range.

The high dollar and mixed selection is not assisting current prices. In US terms, all microns are trading at rather high levels.

The Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) closed down 5c/kg for the week at 961c/kg.

There is no wool sale next week due to the Easter recess. In the next sale, commencing the week of March 31, there is just over 69,000 bales to be offered nationally.

Mulesing clips viewed on front line

Key front line livestock contractors have strongly supported the performance of the breech and tail clips that are being researched and evaluated by Australian Wool Innovation (AWI).

More than 175,000 clips were moulded and applied to sheep across Australia as part of the national 2007 breech and tail clip Product Development and Testing program.

AWI is actively assisting the assessment of three key initiatives to develop effective alternatives to mulesing, under the Australian Wool and Sheep Industry Taskforce's 2005 agreement with international retailers.

These include the clips, intradermal injections and breeding for low-wrinkle and bare-breeches.

AWI's project manager blowfly control, Ian Evans, said while all the trial data was being entered into computing systems for analysis, the views of leading contractors were informative. Source: Australian Wool Innovation.

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