THE Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) surged to a five-year high following persistent buyer competition on superfine wool at the end of last week.
Prices have continued to climb at the second largest offering for the season where 49,145 bales were auctioned.
Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX) market information manager Lionel Plunkett said the jump in prices for superfine types pushed the EMI to 1378 cents a kilogram.
This was 15c/kg higher for the sale and above the most recent high made in 2015.
“Buyer attention persisted in the superfine microns and dominated the end-of-week results,” Mr Plunkett said.
He said the 16.5- and 17-micron wools closed the week as much as 60c/kg higher, while 17 and 18 microns were 40c/kg to 50c/kg higher.
“The rises shrunk towards the medium/broader microns, culminating in a small loss for 22-microns,” he said.
“Most activity was in the early part of the week with Thursday finishing on a flat note when lots outside of specification tended to lose ground.
“The better lots generally stayed firm until the end however.”
Mr Plunkett said the outperformance of the superfine types compared to the other microns pushed out the fine-to-medium differential to multi-year highs.
“The 18 to 21 micron differential is now more than 300c/kg, well above the 10-year average of 250c/kg,” he said.
This week sees the second last sale before the three-week Christmas recess and quantities have increased to more than 55,000 bales with selling in Melbourne, Sydney and Fremantle.