Winslow merino wool producer Brendan Finnigan reckons this year is the best of his 15 years in the region as a winegrower.
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Wool prices this year had been “red hot” and seasonal conditions this year had been good, Mr Finnigan said.
Wool from his flock, which has a micron of between 15-18.5 microns, sold for about 1700 cents a kilogram in August and he’s expecting prices to remain high when he sells again early in the new year.
Mr Finnigan said the good wool prices this year had encouraged many growers to sell their private stockpiles and he anticipated there could be a shortage of wool next year.
Many growers who normally sold in February or March had shorn earlier to sell this year and capitalise on the current good prices, he said.
Another regional wool grower happy with the current market is Hamish Weatherly of Connewarran Merino Stud at Mortlake.
He sold 18.5 micron merino wool for 1927c/kg clean in September and said the market had risen further since.
Mr Weatherly, 40, said 2017 had been “a wonderful year” and the best of his five years at Connewarran “by a long way.”
Good seasonal conditions had also allowed him to increase his merino flock.
While most of the demand for wool was coming from processors in China, the bulk of the demand for the end product was coming from the developed world, Mr Weatherly said.
The Eastern Market Indicator for wool prices has risen from 1290c/kg last November to 1669c/kg last week.