Wool: Trading
Inside the open-cry wool auctions of Australia
What this tab covers How and where it is bought and sold: who buys and sells, exchanges and benchmarks, contract types, the big trading houses and how prices are discovered.Most Australian wool is sold at open-cry auctions in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle, where brokers offer lots tested for fibre diameter, yield and strength. New Zealand and South Africa run similar auctions. Buyers are exporters and processors, mainly from China, followed by Italy and India. Brokers offer forward contracts, but there is no liquid futures market. Radetzki & Wårell explain auctions as the natural market for commodities sold in many varied grades.
Where it is bought (buyers)
- Chinese topmakers and spinners buy at Australian, New Zealand and South African auctions, often through exporters (73.4% of world greasy wool import value in 2024)
- Indian worsted and carpet mills import greasy wool and tops (7.3% of import value)
- Italian and Czech processors buy fine wool (4.8% and 3.2%)
Where it is sold (sellers)
- Australian growers sell through brokers at AWEX auctions in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle (65.9% of world export value, 2024)
- New Zealand (10.6%) and South Africa (9.3%) auctions
- Uruguay (2.8%) and the UK (2.2%)
Exchanges and benchmarks
| Venue | Contract | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AWEX auctions (Australia) | open-cry auctions of sale lots with objective test certificates | set the Eastern Market Indicator |
| New Zealand Wool Services and Cape Wools auctions | auctions in Christchurch, Napier and Gqeberha | crossbred and South African Merino prices |
| India | none | no wool futures; mills import at auction-linked prices |
Contract types
- Auction purchases by exporters filling mill orders
- Forward contracts offered by brokers and exporters to growers for future delivery
- Direct supply contracts between growers and brands for traceable wool
Top trading houses
- Techwool Trading
- Tianyu Wool
- Lempriere
- Segard Masurel
How prices are discovered
- AWEX Eastern Market Indicator and micron price guides
- AWI weekly price reports
- Export and import unit values in UN Comtrade data