In percentage terms the price lifts for most styles of wool were the best in the last five years, PGG Wrightson South Island sales manager Dave Burridge said.
Most of the summer-shorn wool has now been sold and the fleece from the latest shearing is better colour and quality, producing the good gains for farmers.
“We expect more to come through in the next few months and it’s been a good, growthy year.”
There is a correlation between the return of Chinese buyers and the improved wool quality but the Chinese influence is the greatest. Buyers from other countries have stepped up to compete.
“It’s a welcome relief for crossbred wool producers. The price has been too low for too long.”
The tone of the market gave confidence the improvement will continue.
Lambs’ wool has been selling well and improved again, being 1% to 2% dearer on the day.
Crossbred second shear wool was up to 3% better and oddments 2% to 3% ahead.
Mid-micron wools have been a market highlight over the last couple of years and prices were ahead by 7% on Thursday to record levels on very limited volumes.
The outlook is excellent for the good volumes of mid-micron wools due to come in from North Canterbury shearing in the next few weeks, Burridge said.
New Zealand os benefiting from the continuing drought in Australian sheep farming regions affecting volumes and wool quality produced there.
The strong Christchurch market, with all but 3% of the 8400 bales sold, was all the more impressive given that Napier was also selling, he said.
At Napier good style crossbred wool was in solid demand with gains of up to 5%, though lower-quality fleece was down by up to 7%.
The same applied to second-shear wool with good style 2-to-4 inches standing out on a gain of up to 21%.
Lambs’ wool was ahead across the board with 29 micron up by about 3%. There were three very competitive buyers for lambs’ wool.
PGW North Island auctioneer Steve Fussell said a big gap is now evident between the older, poorer-coloured wool with higher vegetable-matter and the new second-shear wools.
The 14%-pass-in rate reflected the limited demand for the poorer wools.
Sales, all by micron, price per kg/clean.
Christchurch: full wool good-to-average colour: 25, $14.64, up 65c; 28, $12.20, up 88c; 29, $11.32, up 80c; 30, $9.75, up 83c; 32, $5.70, up 3c; 33, $5.15, up 24c; 34, $4.86, up 21c; 35, $4.39, up 54c; 36, $3.62, up 17c; 37, $3.42, up 20c; 38, $3.39, up 32c; 39, $3.21, up 19c. Crossbred second shear: 33, 3-to-4 inches, $4.85, up 14c; 2-to-3 inches, $4.37, up 60c; 35, 3-to-4 inches, $4.05, up 34c; 2-to-3 inches, $3.18, up 13c; 37, 3-to-4 inches, $3.27, up 19c; 2-to-3 inches, $3.06, up 6c; 39, 3-to-5 inches, $3.16, up 14c; 3-to-4 inches, $3.07, up 12c; 2-to-3 inches, $3.05, up 10c. Crossbred, first lambs’ wool: 28, $6.95kg/clean, up 14c; 29, $6.38, up 9c; 30, $5.85, up 25c; 31, $5.42, up 15c; 32, $5.30, up 9c; 33, $5, up 15c.
Napier, full wool good-to-average colour: 35, $3.97, up 52c. Crossbred, second-shear: 37, 3-to-4 inches, $3.07, up 12c; 2-to-3 inches, $3.22, steady; 39, 3-to-4 inches, $3.07, up 9c. Lambs’ wool: 27-micron, 2-to-3 inches, $7.08; 29, 2-to-3 inches, $5.75; 30, 2-to-3 inches, $4.77.
