Port Elizabeth - The 16th sale of the 2019/20 wool season took place today with 11 570 bales on offer of which 96,5% was sold. The South African market started off under pressure on Wednesday and recovered somewhat on Thursday to close 1,1% (199 points) down at a value of R175,44 c/kg (Clean) for the week, following a similar pattern as the Australian market. The Cape Wools All Wool Indicator closed 1,1% lower. The Australian EMI moved 2,1% down this week.

This week saw the Rand at 0,3% stronger against the US Dollar and 0,9% stronger against the Euro, compared with the average rate at the previous sale. The market weakened by 0,8% in US Dollar terms. The market performance was encouraging although most micron categories traded lower, with better competition for the finer micron longer wools, especially on the second day of the sale. The majority of the offering consisted of good length fine micron wools, with very little strong wools on offer and an overall sales clearance of 96.49%. The major buyers on today’s sale were: Modiano SA (3

471), Standard Wool SA (2 950), Lempriere SA (2 135) and Tianyu SA (1 503).

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 decreased 0,4% to close at R191,12/kg; 18,5 microns moved 0,3% down to close at R184,75/kg; 19 microns lost 0,5% to close at R185,82/kg; 19,5 microns weakened by 1,0% to close at R180,91/kg; 20 microns was 1,4% weaker to close at R177,32/kg; 20,5 microns lost 1,2% to close at R176,43/kg; 21,0 microns lost 0,4% to close at R174,54/kg; 21,5 microns tumbled by 3,5% to close at R172,76/kg; 22 microns fell 2,5% to close at 173,84/kg and 22,5 microns declined by 2,2% to close at R166,54/kg.

The next sale is scheduled for 30 January 2020 where approximately ±6 047 bales will be on sale.