In January, the EMI reached $14.39 per kilogram.

As of the week to February 3, the EMI had dropped down to $14.22 per kilogram.

Roberts state wool manager Alistair Calvert said producers should temper their expectations, however.

“While the Eastern Market Indicator has hit an all-time record, some microns are still a fair way off their record highs,” Mr Calvert said.

“The [EMI] is not necessarily representative of individual microns.”

After years of drought, which drastically reduced sheep numbers across the country and engendered low wool prices, supply is again starting to meet demand.

Mr Calvert noted that Tasmania was not a major player in the national wool production landscape.

“While we are still a very small producer of wool in the larger scheme of things, we have a high proportion of finer types,” he said.

“Most of the lift in the market we’ve seen in the last three or four weeks has been driven by the superfine end of the market, so the finer microns.”

Mr Calvert said the upturn in prices would be a relief for some producers.

“What it does … is repay a lot of people that have stuck it out over the last five or six years,” he said.

Australian Association for Stud Merino Breeders president Georgina Wallace said she was seeing “a lot of positivity” in the superfine merino wool industry of late.

“A lot of people [with] destocked numbers are starting to build their merino numbers back up,” Ms Wallace said.

“I think it’ll augur well for our wool industry in Tasmania.

“We just hope that we can have a couple more good back-to-back seasons and the wool market stays relatively positive so that people can get back on their feet and build their numbers up.”

Ms Wallace said the surge in wool prices would encourage superfine wool producers to “stay in the game”.

“We’ve seen a bit of an exodus out of that end of the market,” she said.

Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association chief executive Peter Skillern did not rule out further price rises.

“We hope the prices remain, and even increase, to allow growers to increase their breeding stock, which will see the industry grow instead of decline as it has in previous years,” Mr Skillern said.