Mecardo Analysis - Mohair prices following the general trend
- By: "Farm Tender" News
- Ag Tech News
- Nov 29, 2018
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By Andrew Woods | Source: WTiN, Mohair South Africa, AWEX, RBA, McGregor and Butler
Mohair is part of the group of “noble fibres” which includes the small volume fibres from animals. Vicuna comes in as the smallest, with annual production somewhere between 3 and 30 tonnes (depending on the source). South Africa is the best source of price data, which this article uses to look at mohair prices during the past decade.
The price of mohair wool is tied to its fibre diameter (with length and other qualities playing a secondary role) which in turn is tied to the age of the goat. As with sheep, but more so, the fibre diameter increases with age. Regular South African quotes are available from http://www.mohair.co.za/ .
With the variation in fibre diameter in mind, Figure 1 shows a price series for the finest kid mohair (somewhere around 25 micron) in Australian cents per kg terms from 2008 to October compared to a silk price series. There are quite a few similarities between the kid mohair and silk price series. Of all the noble fibres with price series available, silk has the best correlation with kid mohair.
The next mohair category is from young goats with a fibre diameter in the 31-33 micron range, or thereabouts. Figure 2 compares a price series for young mohair top and the 25 micron wool indicator (with gaps plugged by some estimates) in Australian cents per kg terms from 2008 onwards. Note that mohair top will be valued at a higher level than the raw fibre so the young mohair top shows up as a higher value than the kid raw fibre price. The young mohair price series follows a similar trend to the 25 micron price series (which is now a crossbred series), except for 2015 where mohair prices picked up markedly.
Finally, in Figure 3 a price series for adult mohair (around 36 micron) is shown and compared to the 28 MPG wool price series. The mohair and 28 MPG follow a similar pattern, except the mohair price misses out on the 2011 cotton price cycle altogether.
Key points
* No fibre is an island, and mohair prices are no exception as they show some good correlations with other fibre prices.
* Mohair is like wool in that it is a term which covers a wide range of qualities especially in terms of fibre diameter.
* The finest quality mohair (kid) has followed a similar pattern to silk prices in the past decade.
* The broader mohair price series have followed a similar rising trend in nominal terms to crossbred wool prices during the past decade.
What does this mean?
While mohair prices have shared in the same rising trend in price during the past decade, occasionally mohair has its own price cycle. This is consistent with the general pattern that apparel fibre prices tend to follow similar trends and bigger cycles, with occasional periods of independent movement due to circumstances particular to the fibre, in this case, mohair.
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