Although there were lots of different individual segments moving up and down in price last week, the overall wash-up for the Australian wool market was mostly a zero-sum game.
A 'risk-on' feeling among currency traders meant the Australian Dollar was stronger and so prices in local currency terms fell by nine cents a kilogram.
But in US Dollar and Euro terms, the market was only 1c/kg dearer and cheaper, respectively, at the end of the selling week.
Within the different wool categories, buyers showed a much greater appetite for high quality fine and superfine Merino fleece wools.
Those wools not meeting the specifications were firmly dumped into the discount bin.
Skirtings, while still popular for the knitwear sector, are being capped in price by these lower quality fleece wools with which they can easily be substituted.
Cardings showed a slight resurgence after a fairly lacklustre four-week period, and these appear to have generated a bit of short-term demand at this price point.
Crossbred wools continued to drift south, and not many in the trade can see much upside in the near term for these particular wools - given the increasing supply coming on to the market.
Although, everything has its price and - at some point - crossbred wools will be seen as 'cheap' and orders will appear.
The wool market is calmly moving towards the Christmas recess, and factories in China will continue to run everyday over this period. So, mills will need to stock-up like they do every year.
Purchasing managers will be working their spreadsheets to ensure they have enough raw material to cover this period - but not too much given the generally poor demand situation outside of the predominantly Chinese domestic knitwear sector.
Buying forward on a whim, just to cover machine appetite, is a challenge at the best of times.
But in this COVID-19 environment, after the market carnage witnessed earlier this year, it makes it especially challenging.
To try to guess which wool types will be in demand from the spinners and knitters, or even weavers, in two or three months' time is difficult when the past trends and sales history has been thrown out the window by a nasty little bug called coronavirus.
As the processing trade positions itself for this difficult period, watching and waiting, some of the more prudent growers are selling forward on the Riemann platform - where current spot levels have been achieved for December and into January 2021.
Although the market might come back to life if everything goes well over the Christmas period, the uncertainties are sufficient to warrant a bit of insurance.
Locking-in 21-micron wool at $1600 per bale is a fairly safe bet for most, especially if the decision has already been made to sell that wool in December or January.
It is going to be a fairly hectic start to 2021 by the looks of things
The relative calmness we are going through in the wool market currently could quite easily be turned on its head.
Retailers are going flat-out trying to entice consumers to part with their hard-earned cash, with Black Friday deals on just about every product and commodity imaginable.
This shopping frenzy will run into Cyber Monday to give the shopping public more time to cash-in on bargains.
Then the pre-Christmas sales will start-up to try and move more product in the busiest month of the year for western society retailers.
The wool trade will be following the success of this sales period with interest. Not because it is participating per se - although hopefully people from right along the processing chain are buying woollen garments - but they simply need the retailers to have empty shelves at the end of the year so they can feel confident about buying product again for next season.
A lot of the confidence will be driven by the millions of small ampules of COVID-19 vaccine starting to be churned out of production facilities across the globe.
Despite most vaccines still undergoing testing and verification, let alone certification, the fact that there are several candidates that look promising is pointing towards a better, more stable world in 2021.
The US presidency handover now appears it will be the bloodless affair that everyone was hoping for.
Exactly how the new administration deals with the other members of the world community, and China in particular, is uncertain at this stage. But it is considered there will be much more stability and predictability.
Trade will be a key consideration in getting economies moving again, after almost everything ground to a halt at some stage during 2020.
China will be keen to see American markets reopen to its products, but America will be keen to see China fulfill its existing trade obligations as well.
Countries standing on the sidelines will just be hoping not to get hit by flying debris.
A key indicator of the lack of world trade at present is the shortage of empty shipping containers in China.
Goods have been shipped out of China, but not enough trade is flowing around the world to see these containers coming back - either full or as returned empties - as there are not enough ships plying the oceans.
This is good for the environment, no doubt, but it is making shipping rates skyrocket and delays inevitable.
Nobody yet knows what a COVID-19 recovery looks like, but as the year draws to a close we are hopefully getting closer to finding out.
Cotton prices on the futures market have already surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels for the March 21 contract, despite big stock inventories being held around the world.
So, there is potential for wool prices to also move back to pre-COVID-19 levels. But a lot of factors need to go right in the next couple of months.