A DROP in national wool production due to sheep losses in bushfires in four States at the end of last year and early this year is estimated to be about 112,000 kilograms greasy.
That amount is just 0.04 per cent of the current Australian Wool Production Forecasting Committee (AWPFC) forecast for the 2019-20 season of 272 million kilograms greasy (mkg).
Up to 80pc of the estimated 70,000 sheep lost in the bushfires were on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, so wool production is expected to be most affected there, according to the AWPFC.
The AWPFC is due to meet later this month to review its shorn sheep numbers and wool production estimates for the current season and its first estimates for next season.
But it released initial comment on the impact of the bushfires as part of the March report on wool test data by the Australian Wool Testing Authority (AWTA).
It said it was aware of "trade concerns regarding the impact of the Australian bushfires on shorn wool production".
"Assuming 40pc of these sheep (killed in bushfires) would have been shorn between February and June 2020 at an average of 4kg of greasy wool per head, the AWPFC expects the impact of the fires on shorn wool production to be about 112,000kg greasy," the report stated.
"The expected impact on Australian shorn wool production is minor relative to the impact of the drought in key wool producing regions of the country," it stated.
However, the AWPFC acknowledged the impact of the fires on some individual woolgrowers was "significant".
AWTA statistics showed it has tested 236.7mkg of wool this season compared with 250.4mkg for the equivalent period last season.
In March it tested 171,630 bales nationally, down 4.6pc on bale tests in March last year.
In South Australia, March bale test numbers declined 3.5pc year-on-year and in New South Wales bale testing declined 7.8pc year-on-year.
In Western Australia AWTA's Bibra Lake laboratory tested 43,027 bales in March, down 3.3pc on March last year.
So far this season, July 1-March 31, 292,476 bales were tested in WA, down 2.7pc on the same period last season - the lowest decrease in bales tests for the season so far in any State.
National bale tests so far this season are down 5.9pc on the same period last season.
In WA so far this season, compared to the same period last season, the average wool yield has eased 0.3pc to 61.8pc - again, the lowest decline in any State which saw average WA yield closing in on the national average of 62.7pc, according to AWTA.
The average amount of vegetable matter in WA wool has remained at 1.8pc and the average fibre diameter has declined by 0.1 of a micron to 19.2 microns.
Average WA staple length has grown almost a millimetre to 85.6mm, while staple strength has increased 1.1N/kt to 30.6N/kt.
So far this season the percentage of the WA clip classed as superfine wool, at 19.5 microns or less, has increased to 67.9pc, compared to 66pc last season.
