Australia : Western Wool Indicator fall by -0.4%

The Australian wool market finished 0.9% lower, on average, at sales in Newcastle, Melbourne and Fremantle this week It was another week in which the US exchange rate rose to its highest level for this season and the highest since the late 1980's.

The AWEX EMI fell by 11¢ (-1.1%), ending the week at 963¢/kg. This reflected decreases of 12¢ (-1.2%) in the North and 10¢ (-1.1%) in the South, with their corresponding Regional Indicators finishing the week at 1004¢ and 929¢ clean, respectively. The Western Indicator fell by 4¢ (-0.4%), finishing the week at 968¢.

In a three day sale in Newcastle and a two day sale in Melbourne, the AWEX EMI rose by 2¢ on Tuesday, fell by 9¢ on Wednesday and by 4¢ on Thursday. The Western Indicator fell by 2¢ on Wednesday and by a further 2¢ on Thursday in a two day sale in Fremantle.

50,251 bales were on offer, compared with 58,634 bales last week, of which 14.4% were passed in, comprised of 5.2% in Newcastle, 16.8% in Melbourne and 22.9% in Fremantle. Pass-in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 15.8% and 14.1%, respectively. 2,850 bales (5.4%) were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered bales made up 13.1% of this week's offering.

The US exchange rate (source RBA) was 0.54¢ higher on Monday when compared with Thursday of last week. It was up by another 0.47¢ on Tuesday, by 0.66¢ on Wednesday and by 0.76¢ on Thursday to close at 94.26¢, up 2.43¢ (+2.6%) since the last sale.

The exchange rate against the Euro fell by 0.04 Euro cents (-0.1%) to close at 62.37 Euro cents on Thursday night. The different movements of the A$ against the US$ and the Euro is because the A$ and the Euro both strengthened against the US$.