Weekly Market Wrap
With Adrian Field, Melbourne
Assistant Trading Manager
April 30, 2004
Indicator does not reflect market
THE eastern indicator closed the week at 778 cents per kilogram,
a drop of just 1c/kg.
Although the indicator showed only a minor fall, there was
significant price fluctuation between wool styles and microns.
Wools of 19.5 micron and finer gained about 10c/kg, 21-26
micron types dropped about 15c/kg and 27-33 micron wools increased
about 5c/kg.
The gap continues to widen for wool style and quality. Better
styled wools enjoyed substantial gains, while poorer style
wools (with high fault and dust content) dipped sharply.
Overall, producers of fine, stylish wools had a better week
than that of broader, poorer styled wool.
There now finally appears to be an incentive to produce better
style wools, with returns growing.
The unfortunate factor for some, however, is that “mother
nature’’ has not enabled them to produce clean,
sound and free wool. Extended dry conditions have contributed
to large volumes of dusty wools with high vegetable matter
content – not exactly the most desirable wools for normal
combing procedures.
Three months ago there was very little difference in price
as the bulk of wool on offer was stylish. Better styled wools
can carry small percentages of poorer wools during processing
without causing too many problems. Now there is too much poor
wool on offer, so it’s becoming neglected. We must not
forget that these wools are also more common at this time
of year.
We are currently handling higher than expected volumes of
wool on offer. Next week’s sale will again be held over
three days, for the third week in a row since the Easter break.
Wool stores are very busy at the moment keeping up with larger
than normal receivals. This is very positive news and has
surprised many in the industry.
General news
RUMOUR has it that Australian Wool Handlers (AWH) has ignored
objections from AWEX, exporters and growers to go ahead with
its new selling proposal, and it looks likely that AWH will
commence building new selling facilities next week.
It appears it is happy to move forward with its own agenda,
minus any consultation with the rest of the wool trade.
Market
Sentiment is average among exporters due to very slow demand.
Again, our biggest importer, China, is extremely quiet, so
unless the dollar continues to fall, we expect the market
to fall slightly.
Better styled wools will continue to receive good support
due to their limited supply.
| PAST ISSUES |
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 April
23, 2004 |
October
10, 2003 |
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| March
26, 2004 |
October
3, 2003 |
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| March
19, 2004 |
September
26, 2003 |
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| March
12, 2004 |
September
19, 2003 |
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| March
5, 2004 |
September
12, 2003 |
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| February
27, 2004 |
September
5, 2003 |
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20, 2004 |
August
29, 2003 |
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| February
13, 2004 |
August
22, 2003 |
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6, 2004 |
August
15, 2003 |
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30 , 2004 |
August
8, 2003 |
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23, 2004 |
August
1 , 2003 |
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16, 2004 |
July
4 , 2003 |
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| January
9, 2004 |
June
27, 2003 |
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12 , 2003 |
June
20, 2003 |
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05 , 2003 |
June
13, 2003 |
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28, 2003 |
June
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16, 2003 |
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| October
17, 2003 |
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