As one who is buying wool at auction week-in and week-out it concerns me to hear commentators say that wool prices give no clear market signals to growers. The fact of the matter is that significant price differentials according to wool quality continually occur. On this fact all wool buyers would agree.
Across wool types price differences for fibre fineness (micron value), and length are the most obvious. These two wool properties are largely fixed by choice of breed and time of shearing. Next most obvious are those price differentials for colour.
Less obvious to outsiders but very apparent to wool buyers will be price premiums for differences in bulk. Price discounts for unacceptable levels of vegetable matter can occur, depending on end-use. Other wool properties such as just exceeding a minimum specified micron value can distort signals to those not familiar with market requirements. The incidence of tender wool, the degree of cotting, the unacceptable presence of unskirted pieces, pen stain, dag chip, britch wool, weak back wool, and mixed wool lengths, any of these style factors may be sufficient to cause buyers to reject bidding for a lot of wool and hence as a result of no competition to buy, a disappointingly poor wool price may occur.
The degree to which wool price differentials occur may be influenced by seasonal supply and demand factors. For example when full-length fleece wool is dominating supply, price differentials for length become less obvious. With respect to demand, the demand, the demand to fill Chinese orders currently places considerable emphasis on the right micron value.