OCTOBER NEWSLETTER
- Kate Marshall
- Oct 31, 2025
- 2 min read
Welcome to the October update from Northern Cotton.
We’ve now wrapped up ginning for the season, with operations running smoothly throughout the past month. As of the 18th of October, we completed ginning for the year, during peak operation, the plant was processing up to 600 bales per shift, performing as expected. Our record for the season was 603 bales in a shift.
Unfortunately, the season wasn’t particularly favourable for our Northern Territory growers. Late-season rainfall impacted both yield and quality, with many experiencing losses due to dropped fruit and boll rot.
This year, we partnered with AWH, which enabled the movement of 5,300 bales into the on-site warehouse facility. This setup has allowed merchants to have bales packed on site and exported directly from Darwin, streamlining the supply chain.
There has also been a significant volume of cottonseed shipped out this month, with containers heading to China via the Darwin port. For the first time, the shipment was returned to Darwin by rail with Aurizon. This is a positive step towards improving supply chain efficiency. Encouragingly, we’ve also seen a noticeable increase in uptake from local pastoralists using cottonseed in their operations with a considerable group of reoccuring buyers.
With the season now complete, we’re in the process of cleaning down the gin and developing our maintenance plan for the coming months.
On behalf of everyone at Northern Cotton, we would like to extend our sincere appreciation to all our growers for their support throughout the season. We are incredibly grateful, and your ongoing commitment does not go unnoticed.
Finally, a big thank you to our permanent and seasonal staff, many of whom returned again this year. Their commitment through to the end of the season has been vital to our smooth operations, and we’re grateful for their hard work.
