The AWEX Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) suffered its second largest monthly on record in June, to finish the 2018/19 season in a very negative fashion.

Industry observers were very keen to see what tone would be evident in the first sale of the new season.

The Week 1 sale is traditionally one of the larger sales for the year, as sellers waiting for the new financial year take the first opportunity.

However, due the sharp decline of the previous month the national quantity was only 30,994 bales.

This is a reduction of 12,889 bales compared to the opening sale of the 2018/19 season, a fall of 29.4%.

This was the smallest offering to commence the season in AWEX history (since 1995).

Although the EMI recorded a small five cent loss on the first day of selling, the overall tone of the market was positive.

The market was showing strong signs of improvement.

The Fremantle sale, which is the last to sell, recorded upward movements.

This was reflected in the Western Indicator adding a healthy 16 cents on the opening day.

The rises experienced late on day one, was quickly realised in the Eastern centres on day two.

The individual merino Micron Price Guides (MPGs) generally rose by 10 to 30 cents for the day, pushing the EMI up by 13 cents.

By the end of the series the EMI had added 8 cents, closing the week at 1,723 cents.

Although the increase in the EMI was small, the importance of the rise was large, as the long run of losses was finally brought to a halt.

The previous week saw the highest monthly fall in the EMI since 1991.

Next week is the last sale before the three-week mid-year recess.

Currently, there is 34,831 bales rostered for sale in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle.

For more information, see: https://eldersrural.com.au/wool/market-reports/