Friday, March 29, 2024

Old season wool overflow is selling well

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Large volumes of last season’s crossbred wool are coming out of storage as farmers decide it’s time to meet the market.
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That wind-change in sentiment has put pressure on auction values in February and March, but prices, while still low, have crept up slightly at some of the Napier and Christchurch sales, PGG Wrightson South Island sales manager Dave Burridge said.

The older wool has been coming to market along with the latest wool shorn over the same two months and volumes have been about 15% to 20% higher than usual for this time of year and well ahead of the levels forecast by brokers, forcing meetings to work out how to cope with the extra.”

There are some positives, Burridge said.

Wool is moving through the worldwide market pipeline so the sale clearance rate is high.

“We’re getting about a 90% clearance rate whereas in a normal season if we had these volumes the pass-in level would be between 20% and 30,” he said.

Most of last season’s wool came out in good condition as long as it had been kept dry in storage and prices are consistent with this season’s clip.

There was a total of about 20,000 bales on offer at Thursday’s sales in Napier and Christchurch.

Burridge thought farmers had reached the point where they finally wanted to realise the value in their stored wool.

Strong lamb and mutton prices are helping them make that decision.

He thinks the overflow from last year could be sold off by the end of May.

A Belgian buyer at the Christchurch sale indicated a European manufacturing trend back to high-end products containing wool and that means New Zealand fleece.

Chinese buyers are also back in the market following their New Year holiday.

Most wool types eased slightly at the Christchurch sale compared to March 15 but crossbred lambs’ wool 30.5 micron to 32 micron was ahead by between 2% and 5%, offsetting a smaller fall for 27 to 30.4 micron wool.

Crossbred full fleece was 2% to 3% cheaper as was second-shear wool on limited volumes. As usual, better style fleece held up better than more average types.

Mid-micron wools were 1% to 3% dearer on very limited volumes.

At Napier, most wools were at par or slightly down on the previous sale on March 1, Wrightson’s North Island auctioneer Steve Fussell said.

Better coloured wool was up in value. Lambs’ wool continued in demand though prices were down slightly on the earlier sale.

SALE PRICES: (all prices in micron, per/kg clean)

Christchurch:
Full wool (good-to-average colour): 28 micron, $8.65, up 5c; 29, $7.82, up 18c; 31, $4.47, down 5c; 32, $4.25, down 11c; 33, $4.05, down 15c; 34, $3.90, down 8c; 35, $3.28, down 24c; 36, $3.26, down 4c; 37, $3.26, up 1c; 38, $3.20, up 10c; 39, $3.15, steady.

Crossbred second-shear: 33 micron, 3 to 4 inches, $3.92, down 12c; 35, 3 to 4 inches, $3.15, down 17c; 2 to 3 inches, $2.95, down 3c; 37, 3 to 4 inches, $3.15, down 10c; 2 to 3 inches, $2.95, down 10c; 39, 3 to 5 inches, $3.10, down 10c; 3 to 4 inches, $3.11, down 4c; 2 to 3 inches, $2.92, down 12c.

Crossbred lambs’ wool: 27 micron, $7.00, up 14c; 28, $6.05, down 25c; 29, $5.41, down 27c; 30, $5.00, down 5c; 31, $4.12, up 10c; 32, $3.82, up 17c.

Napier:
Full wool (good-to-average colour). 34 micron, $3.85; 35, $3.27; 36, $3.18, up 34c; 37, $2.94; 38, $3.09; 39, $3.02.

Crossbred second-shear: 33 micron, 3 to 4 inches, $3.96; 35, 2 to 3 inches, $2.80, down 26c; 37, 3 to 4 inches, $2.99, down 17c; 2 to 3 inches, $2.97; 39, 3 to 5 inches, $3.18; 3 to 4 inches, $3.29, up 15c; 2 to 3 inches, $2.78, down 11c.

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