MICRONS made the difference in wool price trends at the Western Wool Centre (WWC).
Brokers had hoped the sliding value of the Australian dollar, compared to the United States dollar, might help halt the slide in wool prices.
Their assessment appears to have been partly correct.
With the local dollar's value sinking from US65 cents last Thursday morning to bottom out at US64c on Friday, some mid-micron wools gained buyer support on the second trading day at the WWC last week as the softening exchange rate favoured export buyers who pay in US dollars.
But a significant reduction in the amount of wool available across the three Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX) selling centres probably had more impact on demand and prices at the WWC than exchange rate movement.
While the WWC offering shrank 805 bales from the previous week to 5733 bales, the national offering plummeted by a massive 9472 bales, to only 28,141 bales, less than three quarters of what it had been the week before.
It was the smallest national offering for at least 15 months, even smaller than the 28,243 bales offered in week eight of last season when the WWC was closed and only the Melbourne and Sydney centres operated.
With only 2383 bales on offer for the second day of week 13 - the third lowest WWC daily offering so far this selling season after 120 bales were withdrawn before the start of live auctions - price indicators for 19, 19.5, 20 and 21 micron Merino fleece market segments stopped sliding and registered gains of between 2 cents per kilogram clean (19.5 micron) and 14c/kg (20 micron) by the end of trading.
While AWEX statistics show second-day gains were not big enough to erase the losses of the previous day, they were interpreted by brokers as a positive sign that the age-old rules of supply and demand still apply.
On the first trading day last week an additional 967 bales was offered - that was after 165 were withdrawn before the auctions.
But the offering encountered across-the-board lack of buyer interest at the sorts of price levels woolgrowers had placed on their wool.
The reluctance by woolgrowers to meet the market saw 31 per cent of the fleece offering remain unsold on day one.
On day two with even less wool available, not only at the WWC but at the Melbourne selling centre too according to AWEX, the fleece passed-in rate at the WWC pulled back to 21pc.
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Overall last week, the WWC market registered its third week in a row of falling prices, with the Western Market Indicator (WMI) down 23c for the week to 1390c/kg.
While this compared to the benchmark Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) falling 24c to 1255c/kg last week, the most significant difference between the two indicators is that - as AWEX pointed out in its Weekly Wool Market Report - the EMI has been without an increase for the past 11 weeks straight.
The last time the EMI rose was week 51 of the previous season, back in June, according to AWEX.
The WMI rose on week seven and again on week 10 this season, making local price trends seem less gloomy than over east, but only for woolgrowers producing 19 micron and broader wools.
Last week was the fifth in a row where the WWC 18 and 18.5 micron fleece indicators had started the week at their lowest levels for the season so far and then continued to sink lower as trading progressed.
At 1702c/kg by the end of trading last week, the 18 micron fleece indicator had shed a total of 87c for the week and was 276c below where it had started week nine.
Similarly, the 18.5 micron fleece indicator ended at 1586c/kg, down by a total of 83c for the week and 230c below where it had started week nine.
In contrast, the weekly losses recorded by the 19-21 micron fleece indicators ranged from 29c (19.5 micron to 1443c/kg) to 16c (20 and 21 micron to 1355c/kg and 1286c/kg respectively).
They had last recorded price rises only two weeks before, so were all above their lowest levels for the season so far.
Merino cardings lost ground both days last week to finish 3c down at 898c/kg, but also above their lowest level for the season.
For the second week in a row Sequoia Materials, wool supplier to China's Redsun Wool Textile Co which was damaged by fire in June, made it into the top three on the WWC buyers' list.
Sequoia was second on the list behind Tianyu Wool and ahead of Techwool Trading on the first day.
On the second day Tianyu Wool was again top buyer, with PJ Morris Wools and Westcoast Wool & Livestock second and third.
A big test of WWC market strength is expected this week with the Australian dollar continuing to trend on or below US65c, but the local and national wool offerings are projected to blow back out again.
The WWC is set to offer 6844 bales, 1111 more than last week and the national offering is projected to jump almost 12,000 bales back up to 40,097.
Given market reaction to bale numbers on offer so far this season, it is a fair bet brokers will be busy trawling through catalogues and contacting clients this week, looking for every lot they can cull before live wool auctions start, to reduce numbers no matter what the dollar does.
