Australia’s wool exports for the first six months of the 2018/19 was 18% below the same period in 2017/18. All of the other four major wool producing and exporting countries (New Zealand, South Africa, Uruguay and Argentina) have also seen a decline in their exports in the 2018/19 season to date. In aggregate, exports from the five major wool producing and exporting countries have fallen by 14% in the July to December 2018 period. South Africa has seen a similar % decline to that for Australia, while exports from the other three countries have fallen by 5% to 7%. Unlike Australia, some of these other countries (such as New Zealand), are not supply constrained.

Many of the major wool processing countries have recorded falls in the volume of wool imported from the major exporting countries. Notably, China’s imports have fallen by 20% to the lowest level in over a decade. Exports to Italy and the Czech Republic have also fallen sharply, as have exports to other European destinations (notably the UK and Bulgaria).

Further details, including a chart showing the exports from the five major wool exporting countries in 2018/19 to date compared with the previous four seasons, and a second chart showing the imports by the major wool processing countries, are included in this week’s edition of the Weekly Newsletter. Available to NCWSBA members.