They took another step down at Thursday’s Christchurch sale, joining other global wool markets in correction territory as uncertainty hits economic confidence in textile-producing countries, PGG Wrightson’s South Island sales manager Dave Burridge said.
Merino, mid-micron and crossbred wools were all weaker . . . 16 micron Merino by about 12%, 19 micron by 6%, 25 and 26 (mid-micron) by about 13% and crossbred 34 micron about 7%.
Luckily, about 70% of the Merino clip has been sold, much of it at the peak prices in August and September, he said.
The season was two to three weeks earlier this year because of kind weather.
Remaining stocks are mainly the later-shorn hoggets and the same applies to mid-micron wool, with most of the latter’s stock of pre-lamb shorn wool also sold. The balance is hogget and wether wool.
Merino and mid-micron have come off very high levels and returns remain good by historic measure but crossbred wool was knocked back from already disappointing price levels, cutting off the recovery which had begun.
In all categories better quality and presented wool sold better.
Some crossbred wools had faults and vegetable matter and mud was an issue in some Southland fleeces, leading to discounted pricing, Burridge said.
October is usually a good month for crossbred wool because of limited supply but that isn’t the case this year.
There were 9000 bales in the sale. The pass-in rate was 19%, nearly all of that being for crossbred fleece as the finer wool vendors opted to take the money on offer.
FULL WOOL (good to average): 25 micron, $13.20kg/clean, down $2.05; 26, $10.90, down $1.60; 27, $10.59, down 37c; 28, $8.47, down 28c; 29, $8.22, down 12c; 30, $7.60, down 24c; 31, $4.60, down 50c; 32, $4.89, down 4c; 33, $4.10, down 22c; 34, $3.71, down 29c; 35, $3.41, down 13c; 36, $3.40, down 11c; 37, $3.35, down 23c; 38, $3.38, down 17c; 39, $3.38, down 12c.
CROSSBRED second shear: 33 micron, 3 to 4 inches, $3.78/kg/clean, down 10c; 2 to 3 inches, $3.31, steady; 35, 3 to 4 inches, $3.29, down 23c; 2 to 3 inches, $3.23, down 7c; 37, 3 to 4 inches, $3.37, down 4c; 2 to 3 inches, $3.26, down 4c; 39, 3 to 5 inches, $3.37, down 1c; 3 to 4 inches, $3.33, down 4c; 2 to 3 inches, $3.26, down 4c.
MERINO best, good topmaking:16 micron, $30.50kg/clean, down $4.30; 17, $29.65, down $1.35; 18, $27.07, down $1.23; 19, $24.80, down $1.55; 20, $23.40, down 67c; 21, $22.78, down 77c; 22, $21.62, down 68c.
