News

China’s Customs Bureau and the China Inspection and Quarantine Bureau have suspended all greasy wool imports from South Africa. This action came as a result of an outbreak of FMD in a remote northern province of South Africa where cattle, not sheep, are kept. The region has been placed under quarantine and other measures have been implemented. The South African wool industry is waiting on further details from China’s Inspection and Quarantine Bureau about its position on imports of greasy wool…

The Australian Wool Production Forecasting Committee met on Wednesday 14th November to review its forecast for the 2018/19 season. As I said in the Weekly Newsletter of 12th October, the Committee decided to bring forward its meeting from December to November, partly in response to concern around the world about the wool supply available from Australia this season. The new forecast from the Committee is that shorn wool production will be 305 mkg in 2018/19, down by 10.8% on 341 mkg in 2017/18.…

The three Finalists for the 2018 NCWSBA Wool Broker Award gave presentations at the NCWSBA Annual General Meeting and Forum on 23rd August. The three Finalists, Samantha Wan (Elders), Cassandra Baile (AWN) and Candice Cordy (Landmark) all gave fantastic presentations, highlighting the diverse roles of wool brokers and their great contributions. There were around 50 people in the audience attending the AGM and all were hugely impressed. Annabelle Cleeland (Editor, Stock and Land), Ed Storey…

The latest data on Australia’s wool exports show that the volume of exports lifted in January compared with a year earlier. This is the first year-on-year monthly increase seen this season. All of the top ten export destinations recorded an increase, with the exception of India which saw a 5% decline in exports. For the 2018/19 season to January, the volume of exports from Australia was down by 15.4%, but the value of exports was 4.3% higher. There are some significant differences between the…

The latest data on mulesing status from the National Wool Declaration was released by AWEX last week. It shows a significant 16% fall in the total number of first hand bales for the season to February. However, the number of bales declared as Non-Mulesed (NM) or as Pain Relief (PR) both recorded much smaller declines: 6% lower year on year for PR-declared wool and just 4% lower for NM-declared wool. As a result, the proportion of wool offered at auction in the July 2018 to February 2019 period…

Since the Australian market three week recess for Christmas in December, prices for Crossbred wool the 28 micron price guide has lifted by 33% and the 30 micron price guide is up by 40%. This is compared with the 8% increase in the EMI since Christmas, while the 18 micron and 21 micron price guides are 5% and 9% higher respectively. Prices have also lifted for this type of wool in Uruguay. Uruguay is one of the world’s larger producing countries of 26 to 30 micron wool because a large…

Australia’s wool exports for the first six months of the 2018/19 was 18% below the same period in 2017/18. All of the other four major wool producing and exporting countries (New Zealand, South Africa, Uruguay and Argentina) have also seen a decline in their exports in the 2018/19 season to date. In aggregate, exports from the five major wool producing and exporting countries have fallen by 14% in the July to December 2018 period. South Africa has seen a similar % decline to that for Australia,…

Sheep numbers in Australia will be one of the main factors that the Australian Wool Production Forecasting Committee will consider when it meets on 1st April to review its forecast for 2018/19 and consider its first forecast for 2019/20. Sheep numbers at the start of the 2019/20 season will be determined by the number of sheep and lambs slaughtered over the season, the number of live sheep exported, and the number of lambs marked. For the 2018 calendar year, the number of sheep slaughtered was…

The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Australia’s wool exports shows that the volume of Australian wool exports fell 25% in December compared with December 2017, continuing the decline in volumes for every month this season to date. As a result, the volume of wool exported for the first six months this season is 19% below the same period in 2017/18. This drop is no surprise given the 12% fall in wool tested by AWTA to January and the 18% drop in wool offered at auction to…

The premiums for non-mulesed Merino wool have remained strong in the first six months of the 2018/19 season, according to data released by AWEX. NCWSBA believes that it is vital that all Australian wool producers are informed of these continued strong premiums and respond to the clear demand signals from the global wool textile industry. The premiums for non-mulesed wool over equivalent mulesed wool averaged between 33 and 53 cents/kg for Merino wool 20 microns and finer in the first six months…

All of the major competing fibres have seen a sharp fall in the past six months. For synthetic fibres, this is due to a combination of excess capacity, falling oil prices and lower demand, notably in China. Acrylic fibres have seen the most significant falls and certainly more than the slide in polyester staple fibres. Viscose prices have also fallen sharply. Acrylic prices are down by 15% since October, polyester staple fibre prices are 7% lower and viscise prices have fallen by 12%. For…

AWEX has released data showing the average price differences paid for wool with the various mulesing status in the 2018/19 season to December compared with the previous five seasons. The data shows that the premiums paid for non-mulesed Merino wool at auction in the July to December 2018 period were higher than in 2017/18 for several of the Merino microns. Some care needs to be taken with the results as the data for some types is very limited, making them statistically unreliable. For this…

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…