News

The Australian Wool Production Forecasting Committee (AWPFC) met on Wednesday to review its forecast for shorn wool production in Australia for 2019/20. The new forecasts were released today and show that the Committee now predicts that shorn wool production will be 285 mkg greasy, down 5% on the estimate for 2018/19 (which is 300 mkg greasy). The main driver for the decline in shorn wool production is a lower number of sheep shorn as a result of the increased turn-off of adult sheep in…

There was a strong field of applicants for the NCWSBA Wool Broker Award this year. The independent Selection Panel of Ed Storey (President, Woolproducers Australia), Ian Ashman (General Manager, Raw Wool, AWTA) and Terry Sim (Senior Journalist for Sheep Central) met on Friday, 12th July and, after reviewing the five applications, agreed on the Finalists for the 2019 NCWSBA Wool Broker Award. The three Finalists are: Samantha Wan (Elders, Victoria)Russell Macgugan (AWN, Victoria) andMatthew…

Wool prices in the Australian wool market dropped alarmingly in the week ending 16th August. Clearly the negative sentiment in the wool market triggered by the Trump Administration’s announcement of 10% import duties on the remaining imports from China two weeks ago and the subsequent devaluation of the Chinese Renminbi continued. The decline in the EMI since the peak exactly one year ago (including the sharp falls in the past fortnight) follows the pattern we have seen for all five Supercycles…

Hopes for a solid resumption for the Australian wool market after the three-week recess were dashed by the unexpected ramping up of the US-China trade war. Wool prices fell sharply almost across the board, despite a relatively low wool offering for sale and with 28.6% passed-in (the highest rate in over a decade according to AWEX). The news dominating the wool market (as well as dominating the world equity and commodity markets in general) was the increased trade tensions between the US and…

It is time for an update on the trends in prices for the major competing fibres with wool. While Australian wool prices have pulled back from the heights over the past 6-9 months, prices for the other major competing fibres have also seen declines, in general continuing the slide seen since the first half of 2018. For synthetic fibres, prices for all three fibres have fallen since mid-2018, although acrylic fibre prices have turned down again after a rebound earlier this year. The decline in…

Data from AWEX shows that the premiums paid for non-mulesed Merino wool at auction in 2018/19 remained at high levels despite the overall record price levels paid for wool in 2018/19. There were also premiums paid for non-mulesed Crossbred wool of 27 micron and broader. On average in 2018/19 there were premiums of 38 to 53 cents/kg for non-mulesed Merino wool of between 16 and 19 microns. For 20 micron wool, the average premium was 20 cents/kg in 2018/19. The sharp drop in the volumes of 21 and…

Prices have been on a bit of a roller-coaster in recent months, albeit on a general downwards trend as prices pull back from the peak in the Supercycle. While all Merino wools have seen prices fall back in the past few months, the relatively larger declines have been seen for wool of 18.5 micron and finer. Prices for this wool are down by 14%-17% since February. In contrast, medium Merino wool of 21 to 23 micron are down by 9%-12%. Prices for Crossbred wool of 26 micron to 30 micron have fallen…

After slumping by almost 26% in June, the total weight of wool tested by AWTA for the full 2018/19 season fell by 11.7%. The impact of the drought is seen clearly in the results, notably in New South Wales (NSW) where the drought has hit the hardest. NSW saw wool test volumes fall by over 19% in 2018/19 to the lowest for many, many years. Most other states recorded significant drops. Victoria, the second largest state, recorded a fall of 8.1% but only back to levels seen in 2015/16. The amount…

The spectacular price rise seen in the 2017/18 season continued in the early months of the 2018/19 season, but ultimately prices fell back by the end of the 2018/19 season. The 2016-2018 Supercycle reached a peak in August 2018 with a week-ending record price of 2116 c/kg. Prices dropped back from the peak over Spring 2019, before bouncing back up in the first two months of 2019 as wool supply dried up due to the drought. Prices then turned down and the EMI fell by 531 c/kg from the close of…

Australian wool prices have fallen steadily in the past few months due to lower demand for raw wool. This fall in demand is illustrated by the decline in the volume of wool exported by the five major wool exporting countries. For the 2018/19 season to April, total wool exports from these five countries were 11% lower than for the same period in 2017/18. At just 455 mkg greasy, it is the lowest total export volume from these countries at least since 2009/10 and probably for many years. There was…

The latest statistics on mulesing status from AWEX shows that the proportion of wool offered with a National Wool Declaration in May hit 73% for the month, the highest proportion ever. Furthermore, 55% of wool offered at auction declared as Non Mulesed (NM), Pain Relief (PR) or Ceased Mulesing (CM), also the highest ever. NM-declared wool was 13.6% of the wool offered (a monthly record), PR was 37.9% of all wool offered and CM was 3% of wool offered at auction. For the 11 months to May, the…

There is now a Wool Broker and Livestock Agents Online Training Course available to help prepare for if and when there is an outbreak of an Emergency Animal Disease in Australia, such as Foot and Mouth Disease. The course has been developed under the direction of WoolProducers Australia and SheepProducers Australia with funding from Animal Health Australia. The course is designed to inform and train wool and livestock selling agents about how to recognise and respond to a suspected Emergency…

The Winner of the 2016 NCWSBA Wool Broker Award was announced at the Wool Week dinner in Melbourne on 25th August. The Winner of the 2016 Award is Lachlan Sutton of Elders. In making their decision, the Selection Panel noted they found the calibre of all three presentations to be excellent. They also found it difficult to separate the finalists and that all would be very worthy winners. The Panel noted that some of the most pleasing aspects from the finalists were: their obvious passion and…