Port Elizabeth – The 5th wool sale of the season took place today, with a smaller offering of 6 508 bales and a good sales clearance of 97,8%. The offering consisted of good quality fine merino fleeces, which attracted strong competition from all buying houses. The market gained 3,3%(ZAR) from the previous auction, despite the 2,8% strengthening in the rand against the US$, resulting in a significant rise of 6,26% in the market in US$ terms.

The market in Australia also had a good performance this week, with a 5,3% increase in AU$ terms, with better demand from China driving the market upwards. The finer micron and longer length wools, especially certified sustainable wools, performed particularly well today. Selected coarser short wools also outperformed the market.

The major buyers on today’s sale were: Lempriere SA (1 418),Standard Wool SA (1 230),Tianyu SA (1 217) and Modiano SA (1 135). 

The average clean prices for the selection within the different micron categories for good top‑making (MF5), long fleeces were as follows: 18,0 microns increased 3,6% to close at R156,46/kg; 18,5 microns moved 3,2% up to close at R142,29/kg; 19 microns gained 2,7% to close at R134,20/kg; 19,5 microns strengthened by 4,8% to close at R128,60/kg; 20 microns was 4,1% stronger to close at R120,54/kg; 20,5 microns won 3,5% to close at R116,14/kg; 21,0 microns recovered 3,5% to close at R115,17/kg; 21,5 microns improved by 1,6% to close at R115,77kg; 22 microns rose 0,9% to close at R118,85/kg and 22,5 microns climbed by 0,6% to close at R114,85/kg.