WESTERN Australian woolgrowers appear to have bucked a national trend of declining summer wool production this year.
Australian Wool Testing Authority (AWTA) statistics released Monday show the number of bales it tested at its Bibra Lake laboratory increased by 3247 or 3.2 per cent, to 104,346, over the three summer months to the end of February when compared to the previous summer.
The increased tests saw normally third-placed WA overtake normally second-placed New South Wales for likely summer wool production - bales are normally tested immediately prior to sale so are a reasonable indication of production levels in steady or rising wool markets.
In drought-ravaged NSW, AWTA tested 101,621 bales this summer, 4762 bales or 4.4pc fewer than it tested the previous summer, which was also in a severe drought year.
Victoria continued to be the main wool producing State over summer, with AWTA testing 174,091 bales there, 5079 bales or 2.8pc fewer than it tested last summer.
Nationally, according to AWTA's statistics, the number of bales tested over summer was down 6994 - only about 0.01pc - to 438,848.
Fewer wool tests were recorded in all States last month when compared to the previous February, except in Queensland where the number increased 13.7pc, but that was to a small volume of 2405 bales.
Wool tests last month in NSW and Victoria declined by 16.5pc and 12.1pc, to 32,765 bales and 58,492 bales respectively, when compared to the previous February.
In WA, the decline in bale numbers tested was significantly less at 6.1pc to 40,117 bales and well below the 11pc national February decline in bale tests.
The average bale weight in WA in February was 178.6 kilograms, compared to the national average of 178.7kg.
AWTA statistics show WA's year-on-year summer bale test numbers increase was driven by a 36.6pc spike in December - a significantly larger increase than in other wool-producing States - while the WA test number decreases in January and February were generally much smaller than in other States.
So far this season - July 1 to the end of February - bale test numbers in WA have declined only 2.6pc, to 249,449 bales, when compared to the same period last season.
This is the smallest decline in test numbers for any State, with national test numbers for the season so far down 6.1pc.
The statistics show that so far this season the average fibre diameter of WA wool has remained at 19.2 micron and the average vegetable matter content had remained at 1.7pc, both the same as for last season.
Average staple length of WA wool has grown one millimetre to 85.9mm so far this season and average staple strength has increased 1N/kt to 30.6N/kt compared to last season.
But WA clean wool yield has eased back 0.3pc so far this season to 62.3pc.
WA's wool clip remains the finest in the country, according to the AWTA statistics, with 68.4pc of it consisting of superfine wool of 19.5 micron or less
The national clip superfine component is 54.9pc.
