The 17th sale of the 2025/26 wool selling season took place this week, with an offering of 7 914 bales, after 1 284 bales were withdrawn prior to the sale.

The majority of the offering consisted of long length, fine micron wools, with sustainably certified wools comprising 42,4% of the merino wools on offer.

Although the SA Rand traded slightly stronger against all the major currencies, the market took its cue from the good performance in the Australian market this week, delivering strong results and achieving an excellent sales clearance of 98,1%. Sustainably certified wools also experienced strong competition in most micron categories, resulting in better premiums for the certified wools.

The all-merino indicator gained 5,5% to close on R224,23 p/kg and the certified indicator increased by 5% to close on R230,18 p/kg.

A highest price of R336,25 p/kg (clean)(R254,00 p/kg greasy) was paid for a single bale lot of 16-micron merino fleece wool.

The Australian market opened the new year on a buoyant note and surged by 6,9% (AU$) from the previous sale held on the 17th of December 2025.

The major buyers on this weeks sale were BKB Pinnacle Fibres (2 586), Standard Wool SA (1 625), Tianyu SA (1 177) and Stucken & Co (1 050)