Australia:AWEX EMI rise by 6¢

In a better week, the Australian wool market finished 0.3% higher, on average, at sales in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle this week.
The AWEX EMI rose by 6¢ (+0.7%), ending the week at 890¢/kg. This reflected a decrease of 2¢ (-0.2%) in the North and an increase of 12¢ (+1.4%) in the South, with their corresponding Regional Indicators finishing the week at 925¢ and 861¢ clean, respectively. The Western Indicator fell by 3¢ (-0.3%), finishing the week at 865¢.
In a two day sale in Sydney and Melbourne, the AWEX EMI rose by 4¢ on Wednesday, when the US exchange rate was well over 94¢, and by 2¢ on Thursday. The Western Indicator fell by 4¢ on Wednesday and rose by 1¢ on Thursday in a two day sale in Fremantle.
46,694 bales were on offer, compared with 48,646 bales last week, of which 14.4% were passed in, comprised of 11.0% in Sydney, 13.1% in Melbourne and 21.8% in Fremantle, all of which are lower than the corresponding pass-in rates of recent weeks.
Pass-in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 16.2% and 13.7%, respectively. 3,816 bales (7.6%) were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered bales made up 18.1% of this week's offering.
The re-offer rate was almost 20% of the offering for the second week in a row.
The US exchange rate (source RBA) was 0.27¢ lower on Monday when compared with Thursday of last week. It was up by 0.92¢ on Tuesday, down by 0.84¢ on Wednesday and by 0.45¢ on Thursday to close at 93.36¢, down 0.64¢ (-0.7%) since the last sale.

The exchange rate against the Euro fell by 1.15 Euro cents (-1.9%) to close at 60.22 Euro cents on Thursday night. When looked at in other currencies, the AWEX EMI was unchanged in US terms and down by 7¢ ( 1.3%) in Euro terms when compared with the previous sale.
The market maintained much of the steadying influence seen last Thursday. It also saw some very keen bidding for a limited selection of good quality 16.5 to 17.5 micron wool with good staple measurement values which created a significant lift in their average Micron Price Guides (MPGs). Other Merino micron ranges were generally up, or unchanged except for 22 and 23 microns whose MPGs eased by 10¢ and 5¢ respectively.
Average MPGs were up by 76¢ clean for 16.5 microns, by 98¢ for 17.0 microns, by 52¢ for 17.5 microns, by 36¢ for 18.0 microns, by 7¢ for 18.5 microns, was unchanged for 19.0 microns, and up by 3¢ for 19.5 microns. The 20.0 micron wool average MPG was up by 4¢ clean, 21.0 microns by 5¢, 22.0 microns was down by 10¢, 23.0 microns by 5¢, and 24.0 microns was up by 9¢.
Merino skirtings were in strong demand and finished on a very firm note, while oddments finished on a slightly weaker note, with the Merino Cardings MPG down by 6¢. Demand for crossbreds remained firm, with increases 2 to 5¢ in MPGs.
Buyers for China were dominant with a strong presence from buyers for Europe and for India.
Sales will be held in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle next week, when43,791 bales are currently rostered for sale. Present estimates for the following three sales vary from 33,100 (Sydney and Melbourne only selling) to 45,220 bales, a decrease of 7.3% over the four sale period when compared with last year.
In South African sales, the Cape Wools Indicator was down by 5.0% since last sale two weeks ago against a 1.0% depreciation of the Rand against the US Dollar and a 5.0% appreciation against the Euro.