The national offering reduced slightly, 45,130 bales were available to the trade.

A limited selection of good style wools with favourable additional measurement results and low vegetable matter (vm), came under intense pressure, as buyers fought hard to secure their share of these types.

This strong competition meant that these better wools recorded very little change for the week.

However, the bulk of the selection, was lesser style wools, and wools with poor additional measurement results.

The large amount of these types meant that buyers struggled to average them into their purchases.

The result was a continuing reduction in prices for these lots, by the end of the series these inferior types were selling at levels generally 30 to 60 cents below those achieved at the previous sale.

These reductions played a large role in the overall fall in the individual merino Micron Price Guides (MPGs), which fell by 10 to 40 cents.

The drop in the Merino MPGs was the reason behind the AWEX Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) falling, the EMI fell by 8 cents, closing the week at 2008 cents.

It was only the strength of the other sectors that prevented the EMI from falling further.

The crossbreds continue to track upward, prices generally rose by 15 to 30 cents, better prepared lines receiving the most attention and as a result enjoying the largest increases.

The only exception was 30.0 micron which fell by around 20 to 30 cents.

The strongest performing sector was the oddments, most types and descriptions rose by 20 to 50 cents, pushing the three carding indicators up by an average of 30 cents.

Next week the national offering reduces again.

Currently, there are 41,722 bales rostered for sale in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle.