The fledgling, but fast developing, Northern Australian cotton industry's first cotton gin officially opened near Katherine in the Northern Territory on December 15.
Almost 50,000 bales of Top End cotton, picked mid-year, are sitting on pads beside the new two-stand gin ready to be processed, although ginning won't actually commence until late January.
Final electrical work and machinery installation and fine tuning will need to be completed as the gin's construction and production workforce returns to get cracking after the Christmas-New Year break.
Workforce considerations have been a big issue for the gin's owner WANT Cotton, which will also provide worker accommodation facilities and service staff, including chefs, as part of the project on Tarwoo Station.
Self-contained units and communal facilities will cater for about 40 people to ensure enough workers are available to run the remote gin around the clock during picking.
Provision has also been made for other short term visitors to the site, and a caravan parking area, about 38 kilometres from Katherine.
Cotton and wider agriculture sector representatives joined NT pastoralists, government representatives and local dignitaries for the opening and to inspect the spanking new plant and associated facilities.
Until now, cotton harvested in the NT had to be trucked at least 2500 kilometres for ginning at Dalby in southern Queensland, adding up to $200 a bale to processing costs.
Room to grow
Katherine gin's project co-ordinator, Sue Brosnan, said at least another two ginning stands and related press and feeder equipment could be added to the plant in the next season or two as NT pastoralists and croppers increased their confidence in the crop, and more raw cotton was trucked in from Western Australia's Ord River crops.
"There's ample capacity to expand," she said.
"We're getting a lot of support from growers looking to plant bigger areas, or replace existing crops like hay."
Depending on rainfall interruptions during December and January, Territory growers are anticipated to plant about 10,000 hectares to cotton during the current wet season.
Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association president, David Connolly, said most of the NT's recent 2023 pick, over a similar planting area, was taken east for ginning because growers wanted the cash flow.
However, a small portion of later harvested crop, including cotton from WA growers, was stockpiled ready for WANT Cotton to work with in the new year.
About a third of the cotton ready to be ginned was from Tipperary Group crops.
Mr Connolly is general manager at Tipperary, which owns the Katherine gin.
The gin's construction by southern NSW-based ginner, RivCott, has been aided by construction partner and global commodities trader and processor, Louis Dreyfus Company.
Louis Dreyfus owns the Dalby gin and others at Emerald in Central Queensland and Moree in NSW and is also behind a takeover bid for Australia's biggest ginning business, Namoi Cotton.
Also in the north...
Meanwhile, Namoi is well into construction of the Kimberley Cotton Company gin about 20 kilometres north of Kununurra in the Ord.
The Kimberley joint venture gin is expected to process its first cotton in mid-2025.
Namoi also has plans to build a gin in North Queensland to service the emerging crop in areas of the gulf, Atherton Tablelands, and west of Townsville.
However, executive chairman, Tim Watson, said while the North Queensland catchment could easily become a big cotton industry base, Namoi recently opted to pause the timeline for its gin development, concentrating efforts and spending on the $65 million Kununurra plant.
"North Queensland has certainly not been forgotten - we just want to make sure our Kununurra obligations are met and on time."
Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
