AUSTRALIAN sheep farmers are confident restricted supply will underpin high wool prices for years to come as the fiber continued its stellar run in the last sales before winter recess.

“It’s wonderful times,” said Robert McBride, a wool grower from New South Wales whose family company, AJ & PA McBride, is one of the largest wool producers in the world.

McBride said flock sizes had reduced dramatically over the past 15 years and an extended drought in the eastern states of New South Wales and Queensland would further constrict supply.

“While demand is increasing, we expect the supply squeeze for wool to continue for foreseeable years to come,” he said Sunday.

Sixth-generation sheep farmer Robert Ingram said the higher prices allowed farmers to invest in much-needed infrastructure such as fences, water supply equipment, machinery and IT communications.

“That improves your efficiency — you get more return per hectare,” he said.

Australia’s chief commodities forecaster, The Australian Bureau of Agriculture, Resource Economics and Rural Sciences, expects strong demand for superfine wool and slow supply growth to continue.

“In 2018-19 the value of total Australian wool exports is forecast to rise by 9 percent to A$4.7 billion (US$810 million), supported by higher wool prices and increased export volumes,” the bureau said in its latest agricultural commodities report.

China, the world’s largest producer and exporter of woolen textiles and clothing, is the largest importer of Australian wool. In the five years to 2016-17, China accounted for 77 percent of Australian wool exports, the report said.

Australian wool markets break from Monday until the first week of August.(SD-Agencies)