Wool experts expect WA market to remain strong following wet conditions and significant flock tightening

Tight supply due to wet conditions and flock tightening are boosting the wool market which posted its sixth consecutive weekly rise last week to continue the strong start to the 2025-26 season. The WA shearing season is considered to be three-week’s behind this year due to the heavy rainfall over the last month however, with the past week of warm, sunny conditions, the industry is gaining momentum. WA market experts believed a strong end-user demand will continue to boost prices into the coming weeks even with the anticipated wool boost. The Eastern Market Indicator lifted 14¢ to 1,261¢/kg on August 26, while the Western market Indicator also rose 6¢ to 1402¢/kg. Westcoast Wool and Livestock regional wool manager Brad Faithfull said the Australian wool market has been healthy over the last few weeks given it has been “starved” of fresh wool. “We’ll expect another healthy market this week,” he said. “When supply starts to come, traditionally, we always said the market backs off a little bit but we could be in for some continued upside going forward.” Mr Faithfull said inventory stocks of buyers are “very low” which is usual for this time of year however, now was the time they will be “replenishing and replacing”. “If we can get a good spring flush this year, the wool clip around Christmas should be up per head and the wool quality should be of good type as well,” he said. “We’re looking positive for this whole selling season.” Experts believed flock variations will also continue to play a role in the market moving forward. Mercardo wool analyst Andrew Woods said seasonal conditions continued to remain front of mind for industry based on recent offtake data. “In the short run, seasonal conditions are the key driver of variations in flock size, usually achieved through changing the number of adult sheep sold off farm to abattoirs, although this is changing with the increased production of lamb,” he said. He said for wool, a tightening flock points to reduced clip volumes ahead, reinforcing the current supply-side support for prices. Mr Woods said WA was where the largest change in flock has been occurring. “The combined offtake — which looks back over the past 12 months — remains high, but improved rainfall seems likely to pull it lower in the coming months,” he said. “For 2023-24, the western flock has been assumed to have shrunk by 16 per cent and by a further 20 per cent last season, which puts the estimated flock size in the range of 7 to 8 million.”