Fibre prices correlated with world econ

 I've been doing some research (yes, I know, I have a life to live, but I thought it interesting---and it was.)

One would expect (I expected) that the prices of wool and cotton are driven primarily by agricultural conditions:  floods, droughts, snowstorms, et cetera.  It turns out that they are in fact strongly correlated with the world economy, in other words, with demand.   As such, they turn out to be a useful indicator of the movements in the world economy.   I haven't updated world IP for a couple of months, but the slide in fibre prices suggests it's weakening.  I'll be updating my world industrial production indices soon, I promise.

In particular, the fall in the wool price (uniquely, among commodities, wool is priced in A$, because of the importance of Australia to wool production), points to a faltering China recovery. 

Click on graph to see clearer image.  

Here's what the fibre index looks like over a shorter term.