The 34th sale of the 2018-19 wool season held on 5 June saw 12,437 bales on offer, of which 91.3% were sold. The market closed almost unchanged at R206.07 a kg clean, with the Cape Wools All Wool Indicator also closing flat.
On the currency front this week, the rand was 0.6% stronger against the US dollar and 0.4% weaker against the euro, compared with the previous sale. The market improved 0.7% in US dollar terms.
This last sale of the 2018-19 wool season closed unchanged, amid continued uncertainty of greasy wool exports to China. Finer wools continued to attract better competition while the medium and relatively small volume of short wool types put them under pressure, as the main market for this wool is China.
The performance could have been much better, had the shorter wools not discounted, with the market managing to clear 91.2% of the total offering on hand.
The major buyers were: G Modiano SA (4 698), Standard Wool SA (2 983), Tianyu SA (2 255) and Stucken & Co (738).
The average clean prices for the selection within the different micron categories for good top-making (MF5), long fleeces were as follows: 18.0 microns decreased 0.9% to close at R230.32 a kg; 18.5 microns moved 0.4% down to close at R231.49 a kg; 19 microns lost 0.7% to close at R222.64 a kg; 19.5 microns weakened by 0.9% to close at R217.39 a kg; 20 microns were 0.4% stronger to close at R217.19 a kg; 20.5 microns were unchanged to close at R213.73 a kg; 21.0 microns recovered 0.5% to close at R217.81 a kg; 21.5 microns improved by 3.5% to close at R217.03 a kg; 22 microns rose 2.4% to close at 217.28 a kg; and 22.5 microns were unchanged at R216.42 a kg.
The next sale is scheduled for 14 August 2019.
Source: Cape Wools
