It has been a very difficult year for wool sales. Prices are looking especially bleak in December.

The Irish Farmers Journal contacted a number of merchants from around the country to find out where the trade is at. Two merchants described the wool trade as “disastrous”.

Quotes are ranging from 40c/kg to 50c/kg for lowland-bred wool. Wool coming from mountain-bred ewes is back at 30c/kg. A number of merchants were reluctant to quote a price because the trade is so poor currently.

The latest British Wool sale in Bradford was a little more positive. The British Wool index was up 0.2% sale on sale at £1.469 clean and the latest sale saw a clearance of 77.6%.

“The 10th sale of the 2018/19 selling season saw a strengthening in demand which resulted in the majority of prices being firm to slightly dearer.

“The increased activity resulted in a much better clearance than of late with 78% of the 1.61m kg offering being sold,” according to the latest report.

Merchants point to very poor demand from China for the poor trade currently.