Thanks to demand from China, Australian Wool Network NSW manager Mark Hedley is surrounded by more space and sunlight and fewer bales at the huge warehouse in Goulburn.
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China buys 80 per cent of Australia's wool and Mr Hedley says demand is coming for knitwear.
"We are seeing that end of the sector very strong. Our carding wools are selling to some of the highest levels they have ever sold to," he said.
The auction pass-in rate for April of 2.8 per cent was the lowest since the demise of the stockpile in 2001, Australian Wool Innovation said. AWI represents about 25,000 growers and says the pass-in rate shows the strength of buyer sentiment. After the stockpile went, the pass-in rate peaked in April 2003 at 39 per cent. The latest low record was a little-reported milestone, AWI said.
Mr Hedley said finer fleece wools, which were the bulk of his clients' income, especially in the Southern Tablelands and South West Slopes, were not as much in demand.
"They have improved, not to any record level but over the last five weeks they have improved significantly. Not to the degree growers would be jumping up and down about," he said.
Until 1998 wool sales for much of NSW were held in Goulburn. They are held now in Yennora, Sydney. Growers still send their wool to Goulburn, the largest storage centre in NSW, where it is tested for micron, yield, length and strength, before it is exported. The warehouse holds about 25,000 bales and over the past 12 months has moved more than 100,000 bales. An average bale weighs 180 kilograms.
Wool is still a long way from its best days, when brokers in Goulburn all had individual warehouses.
Landmark's southern NSW wool manager Craig Lawson said since the dramatic drop in Australia's sheep numbers brokers Landmark, Elders, Schute Bell, TWG and Australian Wool Network shared the warehouse on Finlay Road, under the banner of Australian Wool Handlers.
"Given where the market is at the moment, there are exporters who need to get the wool out of store and to their mills," Mr Lawson said. "They also need cash flow to keep buying wool to meet the mills' needs. They have to keep the wool turnover to keep the cash coming."
Mr Lawson, a broker for 33 years, said in the 1990s 19-micron wool was fetching $20 a kilogram for greasy wool, whereas today an equivalent kilogram would make $11.
"The crossbred market is probably as good as what we have seen. The carding market – short wools, locks and crutchings – they are as good as what we have seen, but there are other segments which have been better."
Rebuilding flock numbers for more production is slow going, Mr Lawson said. Sheep prices were too high to buy young merino ewes, ranging from $120 to $170 a head.
"Even though the market is very good, you are still only looking at $60 a head for the wool on their back, so it is still a fairly dear article, if you are trying to buy a reasonable mob of them.
"So the way to do it is breed that way [for wool] and that takes 12 months to two years. By the time you get there [with more sheep] this market might not be there.
"It also depends on seasonal conditions. We are fortunate in southern NSW, Goulburn, Canberra and the Monaro, and towards Wagga Wagga the season is good. That could turn smartly and all of a sudden people have too many sheep."
