Australian Wool Had Its Sharpest Weekly Fall of the Season. What It Means for a Wool-Blend Suiting Quote

What moved

Australia sells most of the world's fine Merino wool at weekly auctions, and the Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) is the price index those auctions are read by. According to the Australian Wool Innovation weekly market report for the sales held on 27 and 28 October 2026, as summarised by IndexBox, the EMI fell 62 Australian cents, or 3.5 percent, to 1,723 cents a kilogram. In US currency it lost 40 cents to 1,212 US cents a kilogram. It was the steepest weekly fall of the season.

Most of the fall came on the Tuesday. Merino categories in the eastern markets eased by about 30 to 80 cents, and the western market at Fremantle lost up to 117 cents. Australian trade outlet Sheep Central reported the western indicator's 90-cent drop as its largest since August 2020.

Growers did not sell into it. The share of wool offered but withdrawn unsold, the pass-in rate, rose to 27 percent nationally, the highest since May 2023, and in the west more than half the offering was passed in. That matters, because wool held back now comes to market later and keeps a lid on any rebound.

Why one bad week is not cheap wool

Even after the fall, the EMI is about 310 cents, or 21.9 percent, above the same sale a year earlier. The September reports had it more than 38 percent above the year before on tight supply. So the direction has turned, but the level is still high by last year's standard.

Wool also reaches a fabric quote slowly. Greasy wool is scoured, combed into tops, spun and then woven, and each stage works through stock bought at the earlier price. A fall at auction this week shows up in a wool-blend fabric quote, if it lasts, over months rather than weeks.

What it means for a suiting quote

If you buy a wool blend, this is a reason to ask your supplier whether their next price list reflects the turn, not a reason to expect an immediate cut. The gap between a wool blend and poly-viscose is wide whatever the auction does this week, and a 3.5 percent move in raw wool is a smaller move again in a finished blend that is only part wool.

Poly-viscose suiting does not follow wool at all. Its polyester half follows crude oil and its viscose half follows wood pulp, which is why we wrote this month that polyester fabric quotes will not fall this quarter. A softer wool market narrows the gap between the two a little; it does not reverse it.

If you are choosing between the two cloths for a uniform programme, the decision still rests on use rather than on one week of auctions: warmth and hand against easy care, shade consistency and cost per wear. Our guide to poly-viscose vs wool-blend suiting for uniforms sets that out. For poly-viscose suiting priced against current yarn, Request Catalog.