WOOL tests have shown Western Australia's average clip to be the finest wool produced in Australia during the 2022-23 season and, in terms of commercially important staple mid-break, was bettered only by Tasmanian wool.
Australian Wool Testing Authority (AWTA) statistics compiled from its Bibra Lake and Melbourne laboratories and core testing lines in woolstores across Australia showed the number of bales tested in WA during the season just gone was 382,963.
This was 8100 more bales, or 2.2 per cent more, than AWTA tested in WA in 2021-22.
While the WA increase trailed a 3.9pc national average increase in bales tested, the national average was skewed by massive percentage increases in the number of bales tested in Tasmania and Queensland, States which combined produce less than one fifth the volume of wool produced in WA.
More relevant, the increase in the number of bales tested in WA evenly split increases in bales tested in Victoria (+1.1pc) and New South Wales (+3.3pc), the two States that produce more wool than WA.
AWTA's small increase in the number of bales tested in WA last season contrasts with Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX) statistics, which indicated a slight decline - 2139 bales or 0.6pc - in the number of wool bales offered at the Western Wool Centre (WWC) last season.
There is normally a strong correlation between the number of bales AWTA tests in WA and the number of bales offered at the WWC, because tests are usually ordered just before lines of wool go up for auction so the cost of testing is hopefully covered by the wool cheque.
But not always.
In the second half of 2022-23 significant numbers of tested bales being catalogued by brokers for auction and then withdrawn at the last minute ahead of a sale has become a regular WWC phenomenon, with withdrawal rates often three times those of Eastern States selling centres.
So the difference between AWTA and AWEX statistics for last season tends to support wool brokers' assertions that there is still a large volume of last season's wool - about 37,800 bales according to the statistics - being held in store.
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The average bale weight in WA last season was 178.2 kilograms, just below the national average of 178.6kg.
Average wool fibre diameter in WA was 19.4 micron, down 0.3 of a micron from the previous season and the finest of the State averages - well below the national average of 20.8 micron.
Importantly from a wool value perspective, an average mid-break of 46.9pc for WA wools last season was a 1pc improvement on the previous season and was the best in Australia, apart from 43.5pc in Tasmania where seasonal variation has less potential impact on staple mid break.
National average mid break was 47.7pc - a wool staple that breaks in the middle (mid break) at a weak point when stretched, leaves two short lengths that have very little processing value, whereas a staple that loses its tip still leaves a usable length of fibre.
But at 30.9N/kt, the average WA wool staple strength trailed the national average of 34.7N/kt and was down 1.2Nkt compared to the previous season.
According to AWTA statistics, WA wools' average coefficient of variation in fibre diameter (CVD) and in staple length (CVSL) both increased by 0.1pc and 0.2pc respectively to 20.9pc and 16.9pc last season.
This went against national trends which saw average CVD decline 0.1pc to 21.1pc and average CVSS remain steady at 15.9pc.
The average WA wool staple length last season shrank almost one millimetre to 88.8mm, which was also the national average.
Average wool yield in WA improved by just 0.1pc, to 63pc, and trailed the national average yield of 65.9pc, with average WA vegetable matter (VM) contamination at 1.9pc, up by 0.2pc on the previous season, but remaining the lowest in Australia, with the national average at 2.4pc.
AWTA has announced a 3pc increase in general wool testing fees for the new season.
The total cost for testing a typical seven-bale lot, including a staple length and strength test, will increase by $2.35, from $77.55 to $79.90 for 2023-24, AWTA said.
