The sheep complex exported US$ 303.2 million in wool, meat, skins and fat in 2021, an income 62% higher than in 2020.
The result, driven by the largest exports of sheep meat in recent years –US$ 127.5 million–, was the best since 2018 for the sector, according to Customs data cited in a report by the Uruguayan Wool Secretariat (SUL).
Wool sales were 31.5 million kilos and revenues were US$165.2 million, a figure 66% higher than that of the poor year 2020, when exports fell by half from an already falling 2019.
The SUL emphasized that despite this increase, the levels of 2019 were not reached, when US$197 million in wool and wool products were exported. In that year, wool was equivalent to 71.3% of the amount traded and meat to 26.5%.
In 2020 and 2021, the relative weight of wool fell to 53% and 54.5% of the amount exported, and meat increased its proportion to 42% of total income.
International market
The international demand for wool shows an increasingly accentuated gap between fine wool and medium and thick wool.
In the last week, the Australian Eastern Markets Indicator (IME) closed again below US$10 (US$9.95) after an auspicious start to 2022.
The rise in categories from 21 to 17 microns contrasts with downward arrows in 28-micron wool, the bulk of the Uruguayan offer.
This gap in values is made explicit when comparing the evolution of values, according to fineness, since the end of the 2020/2021 harvest, last June. While 18.5-micron wool is trading 5.9% lower today, 21-micron wool is only 1.1% lower than the value in June 2021, and 28-micron wool lost more than a fifth of its value and they pay 22% less than six months ago.
EO
