The wool market rose sharply at the last sale before the Christmas recess with the Cape Wools Merino Indicator gaining 4,6% on the previous week’s sale to close at R116,58/kg (clean).

This also represents a 14.3% increase on the opening sale and is up almost 13.5% on the corresponding sale last year. In Australia, the market also posted considerable increases.

There was excellent competition in the sales room from all sectors of the trade and despite the large offering of 14 972 bales a sales percentage of 95% was obtained.

The rand at R10,36 traded 2.5% weaker against the dollar compared with last week’s average rate. At R14,07 it had lost 2.4% on average of its value against the euro.

Prices rose across the board with 19,5-micron long fleece wools posting the greatest increase. Major buyers were Modiano (4 002), Standard Wool (3 333), Lempriere (3 192), Stucken & Co (1 639) and Segard Masurel (1 069).

The average clean prices for the different categories good top-making (MF5), long fleeces were as follows: 18 microns were up by 4.2% to R128,04/kg, 18,5 microns strengthened by 3.9% to R126,37/kg, 19 microns gained 4.9% to R123,38/kg, 19,5 microns rose  5.9% to close at R120,38/kg, 20 microns gained 3.7% at R118,34/kg, 20.5 microns were up by 5.2% at R118,20/kg, 21 microns rose by 4.8% to R116,92/kg, and 21.5 microns gained 3.7% to close at R116,36/kg.

The last sale before the Christmas recess is scheduled for 11 December where approximately 8 500 bales will be on offer.