The fall in wool prices in the Australian wool market is unrelenting in response to the destruction of demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) fell by 55 Acents, the fourth consecutive weekly decline, and finished at 1170 Ac/kg, the lowest week ending level in five years.

One cause of the demand destruction is a collapse in consumer confidence in most of the major wool consuming countries and regions in April due to the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. The chart below shows the trends in consumer confidence in the major wool consuming countries and regions. As can be seen, consumer confidence has fallen off a cliff in the US, Europe, Japan and South Korea. These plunges, combined with the social lockdowns, will no doubt be causing a collapse in retail sales. Unbelievably, the statistic on consumer confidence in China shows only a small decline in February, before an improvement in March (April data is not available for China).

For further details is provided in the full edition of this week’s Weekly Newsletter. Available to NCWSBA members.