The Australian wool market, with the assistance of a rapidly falling exchange rate, finished 2.0% higher, on average, at sales in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle this week.
The AWEX EMI rose by 26¢ (+2.9%), ending the week at 925¢/kg and 51¢ above the first sale after the mid-season break. This reflected increases of 24¢ (+2.6%) in the North and 28¢ (+3.2%) in the South, with their corresponding Regional Indicators finishing the week at 947¢ and 907¢ clean, respectively. The Western Indicator rose by 1¢ (+0.1%), finishing the week at 907¢.
In a two day sale in Sydney and Melbourne, the AWEX EMI rose by 11¢ on Wednesday and by 15¢ on Thursday. The Western Indicator rose by 1¢ on Wednesday in a one day sale in Fremantle.
36,442 bales were on offer, compared with 35,166 bales last week, of which 10.6% were passed in, comprised of 8.9% in Sydney, 6.7% in Melbourne and 22.3% in Fremantle. Pass-in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 10.0% and 7.8%, respectively. 2,118 bales (5.5%) were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered bales made up 17.8% of this week's offering.
In a week of turmoil in global financial and share markets, the US exchange rate (source RBA) was 1.75¢ lower on Monday when compared with Thursday of last week. It was down by 0.98¢ on Tuesday, by 1.00¢ on Wednesday and by 2.30¢ on Thursday to close at 80.57¢, down 6.03¢ (-7.0%) since the last sale.
Further falls to below 80¢ occurred in overnight trading on Thursday night. The exchange rate against the Euro also dropped sharply, falling by 2.70 Euro cents (-4.3%) to close at 60.02 Euro cents on Thursday night. When looked at in other currencies, the AWEX EMI fell by 34¢ (-4.4%) in US terms and by 9¢ (-1.6%) in Euro terms when compared with the previous sale. Nevertheless, the EMI in US terms (745¢) is 50¢ above the 2002/03 peak of 695¢.
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