UNFORTUNATELY, the technical support levels failed to materialise last week and the wool market in Australia eased by 30 cents a kilogram.
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The Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) closed at 1006c/kg, which is about the same level at the start of the season back in July 2013.
A strong Australian dollar did not help the cause of the wool market, as the price movement in US dollar terms was relatively minimal and only fell by 4c/kg for the week.
Nevertheless, the market has a weak tone at present and requires a strong boost in confidence to reverse the current down trend.
Prices in the autumn across Australia usually fare much better than this current market is showing, and many growers had indeed held wool from late spring/summer in anticipation of a better market.
This larger supply, particularly at the finer end of the clip, has overwhelmed the modest demand from China at present.
Medium wools, which were in relatively limited supply, resisted the pressure for much longer, but last week they too succumbed to the negative sentiment in the room and eased by 30c/kg to 40c/kg.
Is there any light at the end of the tunnel?
Yes, but it will take some time and some favourable decisions mainly in China to turn the tide.
Forty wool growers from across Australia are currently travelling across China with an Elders Grower Tour, and although to their eyes the speed of construction and development in China is astounding, woollen mill representatives have all told them a similar story.
The market in general for woolen textiles is much slower than last year.
Those companies that the group visited who are involved in the export market are faring reasonably well, however, those companies who are largely involved in the domestic market are finding it tough.
There remains an underlying passion for wool in companies such as the Nanshan Group, which continues to invest large amounts in processing, training and research.
The longer term outlook is extremely positive given the Chinese middle class who wish to purchase high quality status products, which wool clearly fits.
For a country which has seen growth of plus 10 per cent gross domestic product each year for the past decade, to be currently growing at about 7pc is quite a shock to most of the population.
In recent years, the average Chinese consumer has seen prices and wages rising and wealth being created.
Following government decisions to modernise the economy from a stimulus-led boom to a consumption driven model requires significant adjustment.
Put simply, the brakes are on.
Government spending, which drove the boom in China, has slowed or stopped temporarily as the necessary adjustments are made.
Consumers are worried about their ability to create wealth as before, and so have stopped spending.
Uniform orders, which previously provided a lot of wool demand, are on hold and the accompanying domestic consumption has also stopped.
Current data suggest a gross domestic product level of closer to 7pc than the government's own target of 7.5pc for 2014.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was quoted in the media saying "China has the ability, the confidence and the conditions" to keep the economy moving along within a "reasonable range".
When questioned about the gross domestic product level which may trigger some government reaction - given that the economy is currently growing below the target - the consensus seems to be 7pc.
So, there is a school of thought beginning to emerge that some stimulus is not far away.
China is a society which thrives on daily communication and networking that produces wild swings in the population's confidence.
The changes in policy that have been implemented have shocked the populace, and a package of stimulus measures from Beijing will help to restore that confidence and encourage spending again.
When the stimulus arrives and how much flows through to the textile sector is unknown, but the textile sector is a huge part of the Chinese economy and one which will not be ignored.
Other markets around the world continue to operate, albeit in a modest fashion, but with growers withholding wools and falling production of wool, prices will shortly find support.
When the trend will return to an increasing bias is a little more difficult to predict.
Bruce McLeish is the wool sales manager for Elders.