AWIS WOOL MARKET REVIEW
Week Ending 20 March 2020 (Week 38)
The economic impact of COVID-19 on the wool industry was felt at sales this week when the AWEX EMI fell by 181¢ (-18.4%) in US currency.
Prices in Australian currency were buffered by the 13.7% fall in the US Exchange rate to 55.71¢, which restricted the fall in the EMI in Australian currency to 83¢ (-5.5%). The closing EMI in Australian currency was 1438¢.
The greatest falls occurred on Tuesday / Wednesday, before settling to some extent on Thursday.
41,986 bales were on offer nationally, compared with 43,579 bales last sale.
26.5% of the offering was passed in after 15.8% of the potential offering; and a combined 47.7% of the Merino fleece was withdrawn prior to sale, or was passed-in.
AWEX reports that the value of the 30,871 bales sold was $46.6 million ($1,510 per bale), taking the season total to $1.564 billion ($1,700 per bale). The number of bales sold at auction this season is now 18.5% less than in 2018/21.
