The seventh sale of the 2017/18 season held by the British Wool Marketing Board (BWMB) achieved a clearance rate of 71% of 1.89m kg offered.

This was a reduction from the previous sale where there was a clearance rate of 79% of 1.93m kg offered.

The average price achieved was unchanged at £1/kg or €1.12/kg at 88.8p to the euro.

The price returned to the farmer is based on the cumulative price achieved over the season which is unchanged at £1.04/kg (€1.17/kg), within the region of 30p/kg to 35p/kg deducted in costs.

The BWMB sale report pointed to the sale being dominated by carpet-type wools which it said sold well.

Irish wool prices

Meanwhile, Irish wool prices remain unchanged with merchants quoting 50c/kg to 55c/kg for good-quality lowland wool.

Scottish Blackface wool is selling from a top of 35c/kg for clean white wool back to 25c/kg to 30c/kg for Scotch wool containing a lot of grey and black wool. Poor Chinese demand continues to be a feature of the trade with only very small volumes moving.

The volume of wool traded is still below previous years’ levels with some producers opting to hold off on selling in the hope of a rise in price.

Merchants are downbeat on the potential of this occurring pointing to a high volume of wool currently in the market.

Read more

In pictures: keeping on the right side of the clean livestock policy

Watch: €15,000 lamb makes Late Late Show debut