The AWEX Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) is a basket of wool types used to track the Australian wool market and is recognised as the world’s primary wool pricing benchmark. It reflects the composition of the national flock, incorporating Merino and Non-Merino breeds across Fleece, Skirtings, and Cardings. The EMI is updated after each wool auction, typically on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, for approximately 45 weeks of the year.

Wool is traded at auction on a ‘greasy’ cents-per-kilogram basis, as this is how the woolgrower is paid - covering all material in the bale, including impurities such as dust and grass seeds. Wool buyers and mills, however, are interested only in the clean fibre content after processing and therefore convert greasy prices to a clean-wool basis using the individual yields shown in the catalogue. To support clearer price comparison in our market reports, AWEX also publishes the market on a clean-price basis.