News

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…

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…

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…

The drought in significant parts of Australia over the past 18 months or so has been felt severely in wool production volumes and wool quality in 2018/19 and will continue to be felt over the next six months even if rainfall continues to be better than average over winter and spring. According to data from AWTA Ltd, the weight of wool tested for Australia was 17.3% lower in May compared with May 2018, with declines of almost 30% in NSW and Queensland and significant year-on-year falls in…

One of the challenges to a recovery in wool production in Australia is the attractive alternative for growers to sell their lambs and sheep for meat production. This has intensified this year with the long-running drought in many regions in the eastern half of Australia. The combination of the drought (which has reduced the number of lambs available both for flock rebuilding and for slaughter) and continuing growth in demand for lamb and sheepmeat (notably for export) has seen prices for both…

The trade dispute between the US and China seems to be contributing to a slowdown in the Chinese economy and a dip in Chinese consumer confidence. The Chinese Government has responded to this slow-down in the Chinese economy by loosening monetary policy. It has also orchestrated a sharp devaluation of the Chinese currency, the Renminbi, against the US$. This will make Chinese esports more competitive, particularly in the US even with the new 25% duty on some products. However, no wool clothing…

The Trump Administration surprised most observers on 9th May by announcing that 25% import duties would be imposed on around US$200 billion of imported products from China (an increase from the existing 10% duty), effective immediately. On investigation, the products on which the 25% will be imposed are essentially the same set of products the US announced last September. The US didn’t impose the higher duties at the time as China came to the negotiation table. Those negotiations have now…

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…