A total of 10 002 bales were offered, with non-merino wools once again making up more than 50% of the offering, with an overall sales clearance of 94.6%.

Merino fleece wools attracted very good competition and nearly all wool in this category was sold, with sustainable certified wools, which comprised 26.5% of the merino wools on offer, also outperforming the market. The medium micron, long merino fleece wools had the best performance, with the broad microns experiencing softer demand.

The good performance on this week’s sale was achieved despite the stronger ZAR of 1.4% against the US$, resulting in 2.4% increase in the market in US$ terms.

The Australian market traded slightly lower this week by 0.6% (AU$)  from the last sale on Thursday, 18 February, but achieved a low sales clearance, as some farmers opted not to sell at the current market level.

The major buyers on today’s sale were: Modiano SA (2 623), Standard Wool SA (2 565), Lempriere SA (1 726) and Tianyu SA (1 324).

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 increased 1,2% to close at R213,10/kg; 18,5 microns moved 1,4% up to close at R203,43/kg; 19 microns gained 2,2% to close at R192,78/kg; 19,5 microns strengthened by 2,8% to close at R182,79/kg; 20 microns was 3,4% stronger to close at R169,64/kg; 20,5 microns won 2,6% to close at R156,00/kg; 21,0 microns recovered 1,1% to close at R155,66/kg; 21,5 microns improved by 1,9% to close at R152,76kg; 22 microns rose 1,5% to close at R140,75/kg and 22,5 microns declined by 1,8% to close at R143,46/kg.

The next auction is scheduled for 03 March 2021 where approximately ±10 812 bales will be on sale.