Port Elizabeth – The third wool sale of the 2020/21 season took place this week after the recess in the South African wool auction calendar last week.

A total of 10 152 bales were offered, after 638 bales were withdrawn prior to the sale and a further 715 bales during the sale, as growers choose to hold back their wool after negative market sentiment from Australia, with a 1,7 %(AU$) and 7.6%(AU$) decrease in the Australian market in consecutive weeks.

A sales clearance of 82.6% was achieved of the bales actually offered, with the market shedding 9.9% in rand terms and 7.2% in US$ terms. Good competition was evident for the finer, longer length merino fleeces on offer, which outperformed the market, as well as the sustainable wools which once again attracted good competition from a number of buying houses. All other categories experienced price pressure, especially in the medium micron segment of the market, which made up the bulk of the offering.

The major buyers on today's sale were: Standard Wool SA (2 360), Tianyu SA (1 562), Modiano SA (1 475) and Lempriere (1 437).

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 6,2% to close at R150,74/kg; 18,5 microns moved 5,4% down to close at R137,06/kg; 19 microns lost 7,8% to close at R129,73/kg; 19,5 microns weakened by 9,4% to close at R122,30/kg; 20 microns was 9,2% weaker to close at R121,06/kg; 20,5 microns lost 8,5% to close at R117,88/kg; 21,0 microns lost 9,1% to close at R118,10/kg; 21,5 microns tumbled by 8,2% to close at R118,53kg; 22 microns fell 10,5% to close at R112,36/kg and 22,5 microns declined by 12,4% to close at R105,47/kg.

The next auction is scheduled for 02 September 2020 where approximately ±7 301 bales will be on sale.