The auction, the final weekly sale before the market goes fortnightly, would have 10,000 bales, up from the 7900 initially forecast.
“Growers are seeing the market up a bit, getting close to a $3kg return for them and a good number of farmers like to have their wool sold off before the end of the financial year,” PGG Wrightson’s South Island auctioneer Dave Burridge said.
The market remained very fickle, sensitive to moves in the NZ dollar and buyers were still nervous.
The Christchurch market slipped last week after three weeks of rises following the steady downward spiral last year and in early sales this year.
The market is dominated by traders at the moment and they are focusing on wool types that can be shipped promptly to markets, Burridge said.
“Buyers are operating hand to mouth and mindful of financing costs of buying, scouring and shipping the wool. They’re operating in a tight timeframe rather than forward-buying.”
Nevertheless, he believed there could be a positive market tomorrow.
The fall last week coincided with a sharp rise in the dollar against the United States dollar on the day and there wouldn’t be any competition from a North Island sale, with Napier in action next week.
The Napier sale was stronger last week when the Christchurch prices mostly weakened.
The 10,000 bales offered tomorrow compared with 7000 in Christchurch last week and 5300 and 4595 bales in the two weeks before that.
After this week, there would be about 70,000 bales of crossbred wool to sell at Christchurch in the seven remaining sales of the season, about 20,000 bales more than at this time last year
Merino prices in Australia have spiked to a 20-year high and the market here was anticipating that would have a “drag-up” effect on all fibres over a period of time.
Mid-micron (27 to 30) from North Canterbury has had very solid pricing all season but more was coming forward now and should be an early beneficiary of the spike in finer wool values.
