New Zealand wool prices rose at auction, with lamb wool touching a fresh four-year high and crossbred wool hitting a six-month high, stoked by a weaker local currency and low seasonal supply.
The price for clean 35-micron wool, a benchmark for crossbred wool used for carpets and accounting for the
majority of New Zealand's production, rose to $5.80 per kilogram at Thursday's South Island auction, from $5.30/kg in the North Island auction last week, and its highest level since November last year, according to AgriHQ.
Lamb wool jumped to $6.80/kg, from $6.40/kg, marking its highest level since April 2011.
The trade-weighted index, a broad measure of New Zealand's currency measured against our major trading partners, has slipped 2.6 per cent since Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler on April 30 took interest rate rises off the table and said he was watching conditions that could prompt a rate cut.
The lower currency makes New Zealand exports more attractive. Meanwhile, low seasonal wool supply following the end of the main shearing season saw 99 per cent of the 6346 bales on offer sold at the latest auction.
