MAINNational Wool Market Report

Season: 2025/26
Catalogue: 16
Date: 7/01/2026
Port Elizabeth

Tel: +27 41 484 4301
Email: stats@capewools.co.za
Website: www.capewools.co.za
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The 2025/26 wool selling season resumed today after the Christmas recess, with a smaller offering of 5 961 bales.

The offering consisted mostly of long length, fine micron wools, but sustainably certified wools comprised only 20,2% of the merino wools offered.

The market opened the new year on a positive note, despite the SA rand trading nearly 4% stronger against the US$ and taking into account that Australia will only resume wool auctions during the week of 12 January.

The good competition for the limited offering of sustainably certified wools also assisted in reaching an overall sales clearance of 94,2%.

The all-merino indicator increased by 0,3% to close on R212,57 p/kg, whilst the certified indicator gained 1,6% to close on R219,17 p/kg.

A highest price of R258,58 p/kg (clean) (R175,50 p/kg greasy) was paid for a 3-bale lot of 17,4-micron merino fleece wool.

The last Australian sale was held on 16 & 17 December 2025 and their market traded nearly unchanged (AU$) from the previous auction held on 10 December 2025.

The major buyers on today’s sale were BKB Pinnacle Fibres (2 028), Tianyu SA (1 227), Standard Wool SA (863) and G Modiano SA (578).

The next sale will be held on 14 January 2026 when approximately 7 806 bales will be on offer.

 

Key Indicators
SA Merino Indicator Exchange Rates *
Indicator Unit This Sale Prior Sale % Change Currency This Sale Prior Sale % Change
SA c/kg Clean All Merino 21257 21202
0,3 %
ZAR/US$ * 16,40 17,07
3,93 %
US c/kg Clean All Merino 1296 1242
4,35 %
ZAR/Euro * 19,13 19,83
3,53 %
Euro c/kg Clean All Merino 1111 1069
3,93 %
ZAR/JPY¥ * 9,52 9,13
4,27 %
SA c/kg Clean Certified ** 21917 21581
1,6 %
ZAR/UK Pound * 22,10 22,58
2,13 %
US c/kg Clean Certified ** 1336 1264
5,70 %
USD/AUD * 0,6721 0,6548
2,64 %
Euro c/kg Clean Certified ** 1146 1088
5,33 %
AWEX EMI c/kg Clean 1541 1542
0,06 %
Percentage Difference (Weighted): Non‑Certified and Certified Merino Fleece Wools Sold ***
5,18 %
* Exchange rate values quoted above is based on an average of rate points recorded for the duration of the sale.
** Certified Sustainable Wool: Includes Responsible Wool Standard & Sustainable Cape Wool Standard.
*** Selection: Merino Fleece | MF4 & MF5 | VM < 1,6 | NKT > 28 | >67mm | Minimum of 3 Lots Sold

 

Merino Fleece | MF4 & MF5 | VM < 1,6 | NKT > 28 | >67mm | Minimum of 3 Lots Sold
Percentage Difference Between All Non-Certified and Certified Merino Fleece Wools Sold (Average Price) - 202516
Micron Category 17.0 17.5 18.0 18.5 19.0 19.5 20.0 20.5 21.0 21.5 22.0
Non-Certified Wool (R) Clean 0,00 0,00 0,00 216,34 212,30 208,10 206,95 206,66 0,00 0,00 0,00
Certified Wool (R) Clean 0,00 251,09 248,22 242,79 233,40 224,99 224,35 222,69 221,50 220,44 211,55
% Difference - - -
12,23 %
9,94 %
8,12 %
8,41 %
7,76 %
- - -
Merino Wool Indicator excluding Certified Certified Wools (R/kg Clean) 0,00
* Certified Sustainable Wool: Includes Responsible Wool Standard & Sustainable Cape Wool Standard.

 

* Certified Sustainable Wool (Bales)
% Share **
Total All Wool Merino Wool
Offered 1 075 15,4 % 20,2 %
Sold 1 074 16,1 % 20,2 %
* Certified Sustainable Wool: Includes Responsible Wool Standard & Sustainable Cape Wool Standard.
** Calculated on unique sustainable standard identifiers

 

Sale Statistics (Greasy)
This Sale Accumulative
This Week Previous Week This Season Previous Season (202416)
Turnover (R) 81 449 868 142 985 506 2 082 149 329 1 837 047 762
# Bales 5 705 8 577 121 593 129 178
Mass (kg) 878 408 1 302 352 18 669 196 19 642 621

 

Wool Receivals Declared (Greasy)
Current Season Mass (kg) Previous Season Mass (kg) % Change (Y-o-Y)
2025/26 25 752 682 2024/25 28 257 979
8,9 %

 

Offering Analysis (Bales)
Description Catalogue Offering Withdrawn before Sale Wool Offered Withdrawn during Sale Passed Not Sold Sold % Sold
BKB 4138 513 3 625 11 33 105 3 509 96,8 %
CMW 2403 67 2 336 0 124 139 2 197 94,05 %
JLW 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NaN %
MAS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NaN %
QWB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NaN %
 
This Week 6541 580 5 961 11 157 244 5 706 95,72 %
Previous Week 10239 64 10 175 711 3 546 8 918 87,65 %

 

Buyer Purchases (Bales - Greasy)
Bales
Company This Sale % Share Bales (YTD)
BKB Pinnacle Fibres 2 028 35,55 % 28 975
Tianyu SA 1 227 21,51 % 22 153
Standard Wool SA 863 15,13 % 20 243
G Modiano SA 578 10,13 % 22 625
Stucken & Co 497 8,71 % 15 874
Lempriere SA 333 5,84 % 5 196
Segard Masurel SA 131 2,3 % 4 435
VBC Wool SA 48 0,84 % 2 092

 

Sale Analysis (Length, Micron & Class - Bales)
This Sale Previous Sale Accumulative
Offered Sold % Sold Offered Sold % Sold Offered Sold % Sold
All Wool
Length
Long 3 620 3 592 99,23 % 6 307 5 722 90,72 % 75 316 74 103 98,39 %
Medium 1 857 1 781 95,91 % 3 174 2 537 79,93 % 39 533 38 161 96,53 %
Short 338 300 88,76 % 407 307 75,43 % 9 415 8 785 93,31 %
Mixed 122 24 19,67 % 11 11 100 % 3 258 497 15,25 %
Micron
Fine Wool: =< 20 Micron 3 530 3 479 98,56 % 6 460 5 601 86,7 % 82 413 78 808 95,63 %
Medium: 20.1 to 22 1 890 1 800 95,24 % 2 804 2 474 88,23 % 35 723 34 060 95,34 %
Strong: 22.1 to 24 427 345 80,8 % 411 319 77,62 % 6 669 6 150 92,22 %
Over Strong: > 24.1 114 81 71,05 % 224 183 81,7 % 2 835 2 575 90,83 %
Class
Fleeces 3 896 3 851 98,84 % 7 261 6 442 88,72 % 91 112 89 249 97,96 %
Bellies 863 823 95,37 % 964 769 79,77 % 11 976 11 486 95,91 %
Pieces 490 489 99,8 % 1 123 1 001 89,14 % 13 195 12 796 96,98 %
Locks 566 510 90,11 % 540 354 65,56 % 7 979 7 516 94,2 %
Other 146 32 21,92 % 11 11 100 % 3 378 546 16,16 %

 

Analysis of Bales Sold (Micron, Length & Style)
<=18.0 18.5 19.0 19.5 20.0 20.5 21.0 21.5 22.0 >=22.5
Length
Long 113 201 369 777 953 488 200 85 61 75
Medium 52 96 244 380 364 174 120 69 60 55
Short 48 107 17 21 30 10 6 17 1 0
Mixed 0 0 0 0 4 10 0 3 0 1
Style (AWEX)
Style 4 & Better 37 50 19 29 62 49 55 19 0 1
Style 5 108 216 348 541 618 327 114 59 26 36
Style 6 62 136 258 553 610 255 146 75 91 84
Style 7 & Poorer 6 2 5 55 57 41 11 18 5 9

 

Average price of Wool Sold (Micron, Style & Length - Clean)
17.0 17.5 18.0 18.5 19.0 19.5 20.0 20.5 21.0 21.5 22.0
Merino Fleece, AWEX Style 4 - MF4
40 mm Non-Certified 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
Certified 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
50 mm Non-Certified 0,00 0,00 201,77 0,00 0,00 0,00 177,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
Certified 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
60 mm Non-Certified 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
Certified 243,45 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
70 mm Non-Certified 0,00 0,00 217,25 219,23 206,27 201,64 200,22 197,91 196,89 0,00 0,00
Certified 0,00 0,00 244,15 249,31 232,81 228,36 226,34 224,59 0,00 0,00 0,00
80 mm Non-Certified 0,00 0,00 0,00 221,83 0,00 0,00 200,24 199,09 197,30 0,00 0,00
Certified 0,00 0,00 249,83 0,00 0,00 227,31 226,84 221,54 221,87 217,95 0,00
Merino Fleece, AWEX Style 5 - MF5
40 mm Non-Certified 0,00 139,27 165,28 180,87 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
Certified 196,31 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 188,05 0,00 0,00 0,00
50 mm Non-Certified 0,00 200,14 0,00 0,00 0,00 178,58 172,95 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
Certified 0,00 184,45 210,29 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
60 mm Non-Certified 215,66 215,36 199,50 214,25 189,47 172,19 198,47 190,98 188,53 0,00 0,00
Certified 0,00 0,00 233,20 0,00 0,00 220,57 0,00 0,00 0,00 207,78 0,00
70 mm Non-Certified 229,44 218,77 207,12 201,10 197,77 192,79 189,54 187,63 187,43 0,00 159,46
Certified 236,71 0,00 0,00 233,30 0,00 203,59 213,73 212,08 213,66 214,60 0,00
80 mm Non-Certified 0,00 0,00 0,00 206,69 211,21 197,99 202,35 200,38 193,33 197,02 0,00
Certified 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 220,94 209,45 211,79 214,61 0,00 0,00 0,00
Merino Fleece, AWEX Style 6 - MF6
40 mm Non-Certified 0,00 0,00 141,53 0,00 0,00 120,02 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
Certified 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 197,09 178,08 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 127,58
50 mm Non-Certified 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 132,34 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
Certified 0,00 218,48 0,00 227,32 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
60 mm Non-Certified 0,00 0,00 0,00 164,70 162,00 170,74 156,92 149,65 78,84 0,00 0,00
Certified 0,00 0,00 195,49 0,00 0,00 213,72 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
70 mm Non-Certified 0,00 198,82 191,31 191,09 178,71 174,28 158,92 138,50 0,00 162,01 0,00
Certified 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 200,29 0,00 151,41 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
80 mm Non-Certified 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 182,95 181,75 0,00 183,53 0,00 0,00
Certified 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00
* Certified Sustainable Wool: Includes Responsible Wool Standard & Sustainable Cape Wool Standard.

 

Market Indicators

 

Market Indicators - South Africa and Australia

 

Micron Category Comparisons - South Africa VS Australia
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