After months of political gridlock in the European Parliament, EU lawmakers have overcome a key obstacle to the digital Euro, bringing the proposal closer to approval says Euronews. EU lawmakers have overcome a key political hurdle in the negotiations of digital euro, making the project closer to approval, according to a draft text seen by Euronews. The Parliamentary rapporteurs involved in the legislation have f... Read More

Australian Wool Innovation has announced Bryan Fry will be the next Chief Executive Officer, effective 9th March 2026. AWI Chairman George Millington says the decision by the Board follows an extensive recruitment process. “Bryan brings global leadership experience, most recently serving as Chairman and Global Chief Executive Officer of Pernod Ricard Winemakers, where he led large-scale, international operations ... Read More

A new Copa-Cogeca position paper calls for the EU to change an outdated classification. IWTO agrees. Every year, European farmers shear their sheep, absorb the cost, and then pay again to store, transport, and dispose of the wool because of a little-known regulation. Designed to prevent disease transmission, EC 1069/2009 is also applied to wool from healthy animals, with dire consequences for European wool growers a... Read More

The Australian wool market carried a steadier tone through February, before strengthening further in the opening weeks of March as buyers responded to tightening supply and renewed competition for better-style wool. While the market has shown intermittent volatility in recent months, the broader trend through February was one of consolidation and gradual improvement. The AWEX Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) sat ar... Read More

Major NZ wool broker PGG Wrightson will no longer hold wool auctions in Napier, after more than 140 years. The Hawke’s Bay City has hosted the firm’s wool auctions since the late 1800s, as a hub for the North Island supply. In the shadow of historic booms for wool – once considered the backbone of the New Zealand economy – the major broker will consolidate its auctions to a single national auction system in Christch... Read More

The Australian wool market recorded a decline, with the EMI finishing 27 cents softer closing at 1,724 c/kg. The softer AUD this week resulted in more extensive losses in USD terms with the EMI finishing at 1,202 cents –a 43 cents decline. However, year on year the EMI still remains 38.5% higher in AUD terms and 53.1% higher in USD terms. Price weakness was concentrated in the 18.5–21 micron Merino fleece rang... Read More

This week the South Island was only selling with an offering of 8,250 bales. Selection consisted of 43% crossbred fleece good to average colour, 11% crossbred second shear, mainly good colour, 23% crossbred lambs, good colour, 3% halfbred fleece, 16% associated oddments and 4% miscellaneous types. All types showed a slight softening in demand with a general movement to buyers favour.  Good style shears remained s... Read More

Prices in the British Wool sale on 24th March were generally firm to buyers favour with the index down by just less than 1% and a virtually full clearance.  The sale started 1% to 2% down but firmed slightly as it progressed.  Domestic demand was solid with export customers slightly less active than they have been in recent sales. The British Wool index was down 0.8% sale on sale at 2.409 in BW216 with the market... Read More

The 26th sale of the 2025/2026 wool season took place this week, with a smaller offering of 6 603 bales, with 44,9% of the merino wools on offer being sustainably certified. Due to the composition of the offering, a lower overall sales clearance of 87,9% was achieved. The offering mainly consisted of medium to long length wools, with 66% of the offering testing 20 micron and finer. The market once again follow... Read More

When raw wool leaves the farm, before it is taken to market, it undergoes a testing procedure to ascertain its quality. Buyers and sellers throughout the wool supply chain need a reliable certification standard to inform their purchases and processes. The International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) provides this gold standard. IWTO certificates are trusted by wool supply chain stakeholders around the world. But w... Read More

The OECD said it was cutting its eurozone growth outlook and forecasting higher inflation for 2026 after the Middle East war caused energy prices to skyrocket. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development lowered its growth forecast for the currency union by 0.4 percentage points to 0.8%, with the continent’s top two economies, Germany and France, also revised down to 0.8%. The organisation also r... Read More

Sheep production in Uruguay continues to show a downward trend, both in the number of animals and in the total volume of wool. However, a significant shift can be seen in the composition of supply: the share of fine and superfine wools is increasing, as is the volume of wool certified under the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS). Transformation in the productive profile  As in other producing countries, the drop ... Read More

The International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) recently welcomed its newest member, an autonomous cooperative research organisation called the Wool Research Association (WRA). Based in India, the WRA is a leading exponent of wool science, providing the research and data-driven insights that the industry needs. The IWTO is proud to introduce its newest member. Introducing the Wool Research Association The W... Read More