Week 42 was originally scheduled as an Easter recess week, however a decision was made by the National Auction Selling Committee (NASC) to schedule a sale, to provide another selling opportunity for growers wanting or needing to sell. Brokers were encouraged to only offer wool from genuine motivated sellers, in an effort to keep the national offering down. This had the desired result, after 15.5% of the offering was withdrawn prior to sale, the total number of bales on offer nationally, was only 18,097 bales, the smallest national weekly offering since June 2009. Due to the small number of lots on offer, only a one-day (Wednesday) sale was required. The market opened solidly in the Eastern centres with minimal price movements reported in early trade. As the sale progressed however, the market started to retract. So much so, that the Western region selling last, recorded losses in the individual Micron Price Guides (MPGs) for 20.0 micron and finer of between 21 and 44 cents. Melbourne managed to record mainly positive overall movement, the Southern MPGs in the 19.0 micron and finer range, gained between 1 and 16 cents for the series. The Northern MPGs fell across the board, with losses of between 2 and 11 cents. The AWEX Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) also recorded an overall loss, falling by 9 cents, closing the week at 1,292 cents. A large reason for this fall was that the gains in the Southern Merino MPGs, were offset by losses in the Crossbred MPGs, which fell by 19 to 46 cents. Many sellers were either unwilling or unprepared to meet the market, across the country over 23% of the offering failed to reach seller reserve. Many of these passed in wools were lesser style lots, which continually lost buyer support. Next week’s national offering increases to 31,738 bales, with all three centres in operation on Tuesday and Wednesday.