Cotton has been exported out of Darwin Port, a first for a new cotton gin near Katherine and a significant moment for northern Australia’s emerging industry.
Container ship Scion Mafalda left Darwin this week for Singapore where the cotton would then be shipped to Indonesia.
General manager of Olam Agri’s cotton lint trading business, Meg Strahle, said NT cotton had previously been trucked to Queensland for processing and export.
She said having it processed near Katherine and exported from Darwin was a significant cost-saver.
“The most obvious saving for us is [not having to do] the 34-hour travel time and 3,000 kilometres from Katherine back to Brisbane or Dalby [in Queensland],” she told ABC Landline.
“We do believe there will be a considerable improvement in the cost of exporting cotton [from Darwin] in the long-term as efficiencies grow and the supply chain attracts more volume.”
Ms Strahle hoped the first shipment would encourage others to use Darwin for cotton exports.
She said another shipment was already being organised for early October.
NT cotton ready to be processed at the new gin near Katherine. (ABC Rural: Matt Brann)
Darwin Port chief executive Peter Dummett said “an awful lot of work, by a lot of people” had led to the first shipment.
Mr Dummett said he hoped Darwin’s proximity to Asia would give NT cotton a competitive advantage.
Growing industry
Ms Strahle said the quality of NT’s dryland cotton crop had been “reasonably good with good colour and high strength” despite a challenging season.
“There’s a lot of people who want to see the cotton industry in northern Australia really proposer and develop,” she said.
“There’s been courage invested in the industry via the two gins being constructed [at Katherine and Kununurra] and I think everyone wants to get in and do their bit to help the industry in the region develop.”
Cotton Australia general manager Michael Murray said the industry was already adding value to the NT’s economy.
“I think it just shows the positive economic impact that cotton can have in the NT and the way that benefit flows down the supply chain,” he said.
The NT’s cotton harvest has wrapped up for 2024, with picking now underway across the border in the Kimberley’s Ord Irrigation Scheme.
Not the first time
Cotton being exported from Darwin Port this week was a significant milestone for the industry.
But cotton has been exported from the Northern Territory before.
The Northern Territory Times reported in 1926 that 42 bales of cotton grown at the Darwin Botanic Gardens was exported to England.
Bales of cotton are prepared for shipping outside The Ginnery in Darwin in 1927. (Image courtesy of the National Archives of Australia)
“This cotton is being shipped through to Manchester,” it reported.
“The bales weigh 200lbs on average and have been ginned and graded at the ginnery at the Botanic Gardens. It is the first ginned cotton to be exported from the Northern Territory.”
Pictures from the National Archives of Australia also show bales of cotton ready for export the following year in 1927.
Watch ABC TV’s Landline at 12:30pm on Sunday or on ABC iview.
