Valuing Quality Attributes of Australian Merino Wool

We measure the relationship between clean prices of individual lots of wool sold at auction and a range of characteristics of the raw wool. Based on the data for 111,440 fleece lots sold in the 2008–2009 auction season, five hedonic models are estimated to determine the premiums and discounts associated with each wool characteristic in five micron categories. Several wool characteristics exhibited significant nonlinear relationships, and therefore, joint density functions were assessed where appropriate. The results indicate that fibre diameter has the greatest influence on price in all markets. Brand contamination, higher levels of unscourable colour and vegetable matter contamination were found to negatively influence price