​eBale Wool Packs

The Foundation of Wool Traceability

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AWEX manages the Wool Pack Standards for the Australian wool industry to ensure consistency, efficiency, and supply chain reliability. Since 1 July 2023, all wool packs brought into Australia include eBale technology as standard.

eBale was developed by AWEX to assign every bale a unique identification number, accessible via a printed QR code or embedded RFID tag. This enables consistent, bale-level identification across the entire supply chain.

The eBale ID functions like a licence plate for wool bales, allowing fast, secure digital linkage to supporting information such as Property Identification Code (PIC), classing details, and National Wool Declarations, when used with platforms like WoolClip, the Australian Wool Traceability Hub (AWTH), or selling agent or buyer systems.

As traceability becomes increasingly important for biosecurity, market access, and customer assurance, eBale strengthens the industry’s infrastructure, enabling digital traceability efficiently and reliably, from farm to processor. It’s a system designed to benefit everyone across the Australian wool pipeline.

How It Works

Each eBale wool pack has its own unique 10-digit eBale ID.
This eBale ID can be accessed digitally via:

  • A QR code printed on the bale label
  • An RFID tag embedded in the bale label

Note: The RFID tag and QR code do not store any personal or clip-level data. Instead, they enable systems like WoolClip or selling agent software to link the bale ID to relevant records securely held elsewhere.

What eBale Enables

​✓ Accurate identification - Each bale has a unique, scannable ID, reducing manual handling errors and duplication

​✓ Seamless data connection - Links wool to its supporting information through platforms like WoolClip, improving speed and accuracy

​✓ Enhanced biosecurity response – Enables faster, more precise Emergency Animal Disease (EAD) trace-back via the Australian Wool Traceability Hub (AWTH)

​✓ Market readiness – Aligns with growing traceability requirements from brands, customers and regulators

​✓ Shared infrastructure – A scalable, industry-good system embedded in every bale, accessible to the entire greasy wool supply chain

Built for Industry. Embedded in Every Bale

AWEX developed eBale as part of its long-standing role as custodian of Australia’s wool pack standards, investing over many years to create a robust, practical solution that meets the needs of the modern wool supply chain.

Because eBale is now embedded into every wool pack manufactured under the national standard, all participants - from growers and classers to selling agents and exporters - can access and benefit from this technology as part of their everyday operations.

The growing national and global focus on traceability in agriculture saw WoolClip and eBale receive support through the Australian Government’s Traceability Grants Program, which helps advance industry integration and uptake. AWEX acknowledges and thanks the Australian Government and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry for their recognition and support in helping strengthen the future of Australia’s wool traceability.

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With eBale now standard in every bale, the Australian wool industry is better positioned to meet traceability, biosecurity, and market expectations confidently and consistently.

Wool Pack Suppliers

Wool packs approved for importation into Australia are required to meet rigorous standards and quality controls. Before a manufacturer can be approved, they must undergo a registration process with AWEX to ensure that they have processes in place to ensure that wool packs produced meet AWEX's Wool Pack Standards. Once approved, sample packs are drawn from each manufacturing batch for laboratory testing. Only wool packs which pass these tests can be imported into Australia. The wool industry can be assured that the packs are safe to use and will minimise contamination.

All importers of Wool Packs for greasy wool are registered with AWEX. They import Wool Packs from AWEX approved Manufacturers that comply with the current version of the AWEX Wool Pack Standards.

For more information on Wool Packs please contact AWEX on (02) 9428 6140 or email info@awex.com.au

​​​​Frequently Asked Questions

eBale is a technology system that supports the traceability of Australian wool. It includes wool packs that have a unique (matching) QR code and RFID microchip – these are known as eBale packs. To maximise the success of the technology, the QR Code can be read on farm using WoolClip, an electronic wool classing and data App and the RFID is used in commercial warehouse settings.

All eBale data is securely stored in the cloud using best practice security measures. The data is only provided to the grower, classer or the nominated wool marketing organisation.

eBale will support the traceability of Australian wool, which is important in marketing, biosecurity and quality assurance. It will help protect Australian wool’s global reputation as being the supplier of high quality wool of known provenance.