As per Chris Wilcox, Executive Director, National Council of Wool Selling Brokers of Australia, current wool price levels will support demand for Australian wool by garment markers, weavers and knitters. Wilcox said prices of cotton and synthetic fibers have risen by more than wool in the past few months, competitiveness of Australian wool has improved significantly.

The ratio of (Australian wool price benchmark) Eastern Market Indicator to cotton price has fallen from an all-time peak of 7.92 in February 2019 to 6.32 in February 2020 and is currently sitting at 4.88, he said further adding, the ratio of EMI against synthetic fiber prices has also fallen from an all-time peak of 7.25 in February 2019 to 6.08 in February 2020 and currently sits at 4.66. For cotton, both current price ratio and the average since January 2020 are well below the levels seen through 2010s, he said.

However, the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data on Australian wool exports in October showed the volume of exports to all destinations was down 2 percent. The volume of exports to China was higher compared to October 2019 although its value declined by 20 per cent. Similarly exports to Korea rose 43 per cent in volume while those to UK by 81 per cent. On the other hand, volume of Australia’s exports slumped by 54 per cent while their value declined by 72 per cent.