WOOL prices continued to surge upwards at the Western Wool Centre (WWC) on the first day of trading last week, but handed back half of their gains on the second day.
Westcoast Wool & Livestock, Dyson Jones and Elders auctioneers were very pleased with the level of demand and competition between buyers for wool on offer on the first day.
After auctioneering the first fleece catalogue of the day for Westcoast Wool & Livestock Brad Faithfull was satisfied with the result, including a low passed-in rate of just over 1 per cent.
"She was a hard slog in there today but certainly well worth it," Mr Faithful said after having to call multiple bids on almost every lot.
"They're quoting this market in the vicinity of 100-130 cents dearer and the real promising thing is it (demand) is widely spread.
"There was competition right across the room and all micron categories were supported but certainly, in particular, the fine edge - 17 micron or finer - was most sought after," he said.
It was a similar story at the end of the day from Elders' auctioneer Alice Wilsdon who sold the last catalogue.
"There was renewed vigour altogether in the selling room, so plenty of action and plenty of competition," Ms Wilsdon said.
"All types (of wool) are getting competition and were well supported," she said.
Broker optimism that the market last week would build on a foundation of a very strong one-day WWC trading result the previous week, proved correct - but only for day one as the WWC reverted to two trading days a week to cope with a larger 9278-bale offering.
The Western Indicator (WI), which had recorded its biggest jump of 113c per kilogram clean since last September the previous week, added a further 112c to end the first trading day at 1279c/kg.
Micron price guides rose between 112c (19 micron) to 132c (21 micron) with an overall passed-in rate of just 1.4pc.
Strong demand for skirtings continued with every lot sold to prices generally 130-150c dearer, according to Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX).
But on the second day Nutrien Ag Solutions and Australian Wool Network auctioneers did not find buyers nearly as accommodating.
Taking a lead from softening demand at Melbourne and Sydney wool centres, now trading three hours ahead of the WWC because of daylight saving, buyers in the sale room at the WWC basically closed their order books.
Despite a smaller offering - down 1362 bales on the previous day to 3958 - the passed-in rate blew out to 32.7pc and even Merino skirtings, which had been in such demand recently, suffered a 8.7pc passed-in rate.
The WI dropped 60c to finish at 1219c/kg, still up 52c for the week and, apart from the previous day, still at its highest level since the end of May.
Across the price guide spectrum falls of 61c (20 micron) to 99c (18.5 micron) were recorded, but such was the strength of the market the first day, all guides finished the week higher by between 18c (19 micron) and 63c (21 micron).
Merino skirtings, which had bucked the downwards trend of the second day and continued to strengthen, added 27c for the week to finish on parity with skirtings prices in Melbourne and Sydney.
However, the WWC fleece guides now trail both Melbourne and Sydney on comparative prices with some significant margins of up to 64c to make up.
National trader Techwool was the biggest buyer both days - taking 1080 the first day but only 482 the second - and local trader PJ Morris was second, with a similar drop in bales purchased between the two days.
The WWC will trade on two days again this week with the offering scheduled to grow to 10,888 bales, 1610 more than was actually offered last week.
According to AWEX, the national offering is expected to increase by 9343 bales to 44,004 this week.
