Trading
Approximately 85% of Australian wool is bought and sold through open cry auctions, the remaining 15% is sold ‘privately’ on-farm or to local wool handling facilities. Auctions normally occur 46 weeks of the year, sale recess weeks include Christmas, Easter and known periods of low volume (for a centre).
Administratively the market is divided into three geographic regions: NORTH (for wool usually sourced from NSW/QLD), SOUTH (Vic/SA/Tas/NZ)and WEST(Western Australia).Auctions are conducted in five selling centres: Sydney, Melbourne, Fremantle, Newcastle (6 sales p.a.) and Launceston (1 sale week p.a.).
Two major wool brokers handle up to 50% of wool, encouraged by 40 to 50 smaller, independent handlers often in local centres.
Wool Testing
Virtually all Australian wool is now measured prior to sale. Wool is prepared for sale according to objective measurements on the International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) test certificate rather than subjective clip preparation standards.
Wool is valued and bought with the aid of actual measurements for fibre diameter, yield, vegetable matter content, length, strength and colour, with coefficient of variation of fibre diameter also available.
The majority of all Australian wool sold is exported, the top five countries that purchased wool in 2006/2007 include:
- China 67%
- Italy 8.15%
- India 6%
- Czech Rebublic 3.4%
- Taiwan 2.45%
Source: Australian Wool Testing Authority and Australian Council of Wool Exporters and Processors Inc.
Further information: