I get knocked down, but I’ll get up again.

Wool Market Update 13th October

“Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” – Nelson Mandela

Another challenging week for the spot wool market mirroring the uncertainty that seems to be every present across all commodities and geographies. Most micron groups lost ground with even the Crossbreds which had been steadily working off their lower base succumbing to the widespread insecurity.

The forward market started the week with some healthy sign. Solid bidding in the front window provided growers and exporters with opportunities to hedge a little of their nearby risk. This was followed by some flat to cash bidding out in the first half of 2024 on the 18.0- and 19.0-micron groups. The patchy nature of the spot auction motivated the sellers to trade the first quarter of 2024 with 18.0 executed at 1500 and 19.0 1390.

The ongoing crisis in the Middle East has given the forward market pause with most forward bids put on hold. Uncertainty is curbing the fragile confidence that was building particularly in Europe.

Hopefully exporters and traders will have found some continuing demand out of China and India to steady the market at current levels and bring support back into the new year forwards.