THE wool market has not been able to sustain the sky-high prices of recent weeks and slipped another 57 cents a kilogram this week.
The Eastern Market Indicator finished this week’s trading at 1744c/kg and the slide was the largest weekly fall in 2½ years (since June 2015).
In Sydney all but the very fine wools were in the red, recording dips of about 30c/kg to as much as 80c/kg.
Overall, the Northern Market Indicator slipped 56c/kg in the past week to 1845c/kg.
At the southern sales the market was even cheaper with the Southern Market Indicator sliding 62c/kg this week to 1677c/kg.
Australian Wool Exchange market information manager Lionel Plunkett said buyers were again more selective with their purchases.
“The result was wools with unfavourable test results struggling to find support in the falling market,” he said.
“Lots with very high mid-breaks became almost unquotable as they lost buyer interest.
“Conversely, wools with very low mid-breaks attracted intense competition, the result was that some recorded very little change in price.
“Worth noting is that a stylish selection of 17-micron and finer resisted the falling market and managed increases of 5c/kg to 15c/kg,” he said.
The crossbred sector also suffered large corrections, and Mr Plunkett said any lines that were poorly prepared lacked buyer interest and suffered heavy discounts.
“Prices generally fell by 40c/kg to 80c/kg, the exception being 32 micron and coarser which were only 10c/kg to 20c/kg easier,” he said.
Mr Plunkett said many pundits believed the oddment market was over priced and last week there was a significant correction.
“That said, nothing could have prepared the trade for the free fall in prices of this week’s sale,” he said.
Carding prices were as much as 150c/kg to 250c/kg.
“The three Merino carding Indicators fell by an average of 198c/kg, and it was the largest weekly fall (in cents) in the AWEX Carding Indicator for all regions (since 1997),” Mr Plunkett said.