ABARES, the Australian Government’s agricultural commodity forecaster, has released bullish forecasts for the Australian wool industry. It predicts that the value of Australia’s wool exports will lift by 13% to $4.09 billion. If achieved, this will be the largest annual export value for wool since 1994/95. ABARES attributes the sharp increase in the value of Australia’s wool exports to a 3% lift in the volume of wool exports and a 10% increase in the average price paid for wool in 2017/18 compared with 2016/17. ABARES predicts that the season average EMI will lift by 9.5% to 1550 c/kg. If the forecast is achieved, this average would be the highest seasonal average ever recorded on the same 2017/18 basis (the average EMI in 2016/17 of 1423 c/kg was the previous highest). ABARES also predicts that shorn wool production in 2017/18 will lift by 3.8% to 353 mkg greasy. This is higher than the Australian Wool Production Forecasting Committee’s current forecast of 340 mkg greasy.

Further details are contained in the NCWSBA's Weekly Newsletter for the week ending 29th September 2017, available to NCWSBA Members.