WITH seven weeks of trading left this season at the Western Wool Centre (WWC), including this week, it is the only Australian wool selling centre doing better than last season.
According to Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX), gross turnover from wool sales at the WWC for the season to the end of week 43 - last week - totalled $400 million, up $3m on the same period last season.
But wool sales gross turnover of $629m at the Sydney centre in New South Wales was down $7m on the end of week 43 last season, while $990m turnover at the main Melbourne wool selling centre in Victoria trailed last season by $61m or 5.8 per cent.
Since week seven, back in August, gross turnover each week at the WWC has consistently matched or been better than last season.
Last week was the first time this season the Sydney centre's turnover fell behind last season.
That was after being as much as $33m in front last September.
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But the Melbourne centre's wool sales turnover fell behind last season's in week 18 last November and the gap has continued to widen most weeks since then.
A talking point from WWC brokers and wool buyers in the latter half of the season has been that the Melbourne centre has a larger quantity of lesser quality wools to try and clear than either the WWC or Sydney.
This was recently confirmed by a regular WWC buyer, who spent a week at the Melbourne centre and was not impressed with the quality of wools he inspected there.
He reputedly told WWC colleagues wools offered at the WWC compared very well with better quality wools offered in Melbourne, but much of the offering there was "rubbish".
The buyer's observation appears to be reflected in the respective turnover figures for the centres, when bales numbers offered so far are similar to last season - the WWC and Sydney have offered slightly more and Melbourne has offered slightly less.
The number of bales offered 'first hand' has also increased slightly at the WWC and in Sydney, but declined slightly in Melbourne, according to AWEX.
The WWC Merino fleece market last week reacted positively to a firming trend on the last day of Melbourne sales the week before and to an easing Australian dollar effectively making exported wool cheaper.
Only Merino cardings lost ground, easing 20 cents to 819c per kilogram.
The Western Market Indicator added 30c to finish the week at 1472c/kg clean, pushed up by price rises of between 22c for 18 micron fleece and 60c for 21 micron fleece.
