The wool market was softer at this week sale with the Cape Wools Merino indicator shedding 1.6% to close the day at R98.73/kg (clean). This is still 13% up on the opening sale but slightly lower than at the same sale last season.
The local market followed the Australian market, which has also lost some of its recent gains and was down 3.7% on last Wednesday's sale.
The rand, at R8.77 was 2.1% weaker against the dollar compared with last week's average rate, and at R11.16, it had lost 1.3% of its value against the euro.
A total of 10 766 bales was offered of which 98% was sold. Major buyers were Standard Wool SA (2 973 bales), Modiano SA (2 243 bales), Lempriere SA (2 090 bales) and Stucken & Co (1 717 bales).
Prices were a mixed bag with some fleece wools slightly dearer, while others were cheaper. The good news is that receipts at brokers' stores are up 4.83% compared with the corresponding period last season, which means that 19.9 million kg of wool have been received compared with 18.9 million kg last season.
The average clean prices for the different categories good top-making (MF5), long fleeces were as follows: 18 microns dropped 1% to R115.15/kg, 18,5 microns were up 0.5% at R113.79/kg, 19 microns were 1.1% cheaper to close at R107.66/kg, 19.5 microns were up by a marginal 0.2% at R104.16/kg, 20 microns were 0.6% cheaper at R99.61/kg, 20.5 microns dropped 0.7% to R98.64/kg, 21 microns were up 0.5% to R98.46/kg, 21.5 microns were down by a slight 0.3% to close at R97.02/kg, and 22 microns dropped 0.8% to close at R95.91/kg.
Approximately 12 000 bales will be offered at next week's sale.
Cape Wools
