LATEST Australian Wool Testing Authority (AWTA) bale core test statistics suggest wool production in Western Australia so far this season continues to remain stronger than in other States.
This is despite the number of bales tested in January in WA dropping by 1857 or five per cent, when compared to January last year.
Nationally, AWTA tested 4.5pc fewer bales in January than it did in January last year, with South Australia the only State to record a significant 5pc increase in bale tests, despite the disruption to shearing and massive loss of stock from bushfires, particularly on Kangaroo Island, during the month.
In WA in January AWTA tested 35,503 bales, taking the bale test tally so far this season from July 1 to 209,332, only 1.9pc below the tally for the same period last season.
The test tally so far this season in Victoria, the biggest wool producing State, was 365,206 bales, down 6.8pc on last year.
The seasonal tally so far in New South Wales, the second biggest wool producing State, was 274,275 bales, down 4.3pc.
According to AWTA, the average WA wool yield in January was 62.8pc, only slightly behind the average yield last January but down on the national average yield of 63.3pc, which came back 0.9pc in January.
Average WA fibre diameter and vegetable matter in the wool remained unchanged from last January at 19.2 microns - the finest clip average in Australia - and 1.7pc.
Average WA staple length grew 0.8 of a millimetre to 85.9mm in January and staple strength increased 1.1N/kt to 30.9N/kt.
According to AWTA, 68.6pc of the WA wool clip is now classed as superfine wool of 19.5 micron or less and that has increased 0.5pc so far this season.
The percentage of superfine wool in the national clip is 55.5pc.