Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Producers should not panic about the first winter auction’s lower prices for adult mohair, caused by a slight oversupply of stronger, shorter offerings, which is typical of the season. The stronger kid mohair and finer young goat hair performed particularly well and were in strong competition among buyers. Notably, a new buyer, JS Mohair, attended the auction.
“Although Stucken and Co bought 46% of the hair and Standard Wool followed closely, all buyers were active during the auction and went home with something,” said Roche Jongkind, line manager of full bales at House of Fibre. “This looks promising for the rest of the season, even though the usual influx of Lesotho hair in September will increase volumes for a period of time.”
Elrin Davids, operations and costing manager at House of Fibre, said some lots were held back and sold after the auction at market-related prices in the interests of individual clients. The marginally stronger rand against the dollar had little impact on buyers, as mohair was still selling above $20/kg, he said. “Year after year, the average price for winter clip mohair was up 22% at R406/kg even though the auction was 3% lower.”
Important markers for the different micron groups show how dramatically price can vary, according to demand: 24/25 microns went down to R780/kg, 28/29 microns went up to R500/kg, 30/31 microns went down to R380/kg, 33/34 microns went down to R280/kg, and 35/36 microns went down R265/kg.
Top prices fetched
House of Fibre’s BIN 269 fetched R881/kg, Fourie de Jager from Cradock received R811/kg for his 25 micron and finer mohair, and Petrus Marx from Wolmaransstad received R800/kg for his 26 micron kid mohair.
At OVK, a BSFFK bale sold for R840,10/kg. The producers in this BIN were TC Lombard, PJH Boerdery (Pty) Ltd, EE Brits, MP Rademan, WJ du Toit and Etienne Terblanche Trust. The buyer was Stucken & Co. The highest producer bale at the OVK and public auction was offered by Karoo Fine Fibre Farming (Pty) Ltd from Beaufort West, who received R900/kg for a CSFFK bale measuring 25,6 micron, with a clean yield of 90,3% and good style. The buyer was VBC.
The next sale will take place on 8 September and will be bigger. The auction will offer kid mohair and good-quality longer hair; the hair will still be somewhat strong due to the favourable veld conditions in the production areas after the rainfall season ends. – Roelof Bezuidenhout, AgriOrbit
