The Australian wool market has managed to record overall positive movement this week, as concerns over global health disruptions were largely alleviated. Many exporters were concerned one possible effect of the coronavirus, would be the inability of overseas customers being able to open letters of credit, due to bank staff being unable to attend work. These concerns were unfounded however, as the letters of credit started flowing through, opening the way for exports to be shipped. Buying confidence increased once exporters confirmed that is was “business as usual”, this stronger buyer sentiment resulted in spirited competition in the auction rooms across the country. Melbourne opened proceedings on Tuesday with a stand-alone offering of New Zealand stored wool. As these wools are not included in the make-up of the individual Micron Price Guides (MPGs) the AWEX Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) remained unchanged for the day. Sydney and Fremantle joined Melbourne on the second selling day, as the offering returned to Australian grown and stored wool. Main buyer focus continued to be on the better style wools, particularly those with favourable additional measurement results, strong demand on these types helped to push prices up by 40 to 100 cents over the series. Lesser style lower yielding wools and those with poor additional results did not attract the same support, losing ground as the series progressed. The gains in the better wools, outweighed the losses in the poorer wools, resulting in overall increases in the MPGs across the country of between 6 and 74 cents, the Western region selling last, posting the largest gains due to the continually rising market. 

On the back of these rises the EMI gained 13 cents for the series, closing the week at 1,581 cents. Next week’s national quantity increases, currently there is 44,091 bales on offer.