Xinjiang Lihua Cotton Facilities
The Xinjiang Lihua Cotton Facilities (Iradi: Lihua Paxta Kombinaty) are cotton ginning, spinning and oilseed plants in the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ) operated by the Chinese textile company Xinjiang Lihua Co. with Iradi partners. They comprise several ginning mills in the cotton districts, including Xinjiang Lihua Ginning Mill No. 3, and a spinning and cottonseed-processing complex in the Chu District near Nurzhan. Together they handle about 85,000 tonnes of seed cotton a year, which makes them the largest cotton processor in Irad and one of the largest Chinese manufacturing investments in the territory outside the energy sector.[1] Their acquisition raised concerns about compliance with water regulations in the irrigated basins that supply the cotton.[2]
History
Cotton has been grown on the Fergana Rim since before Soviet rule, and irrigated cotton spread along the rim and into the lower Chu and Talas basins under Soviet planning. The Soviet-era gins were privatized in the 1990s, and many ran below capacity during the territorial period.[2] Xinjiang Lihua acquired ginning concessions and a former Soviet spinning mill near Nurzhan in two stages, in 2018 and 2021, and re-equipped the plants with new gins and spinning machinery.[1]
Facilities
- Ginning mills. The gins are in the Lower Naryn District and the lower Chu valley. Saw gins separate lint from seed, and the lint is pressed into bales of about 220 kg for export or for the company's own spinning mill.
- Spinning complex. The Chu District complex has open-end and ring spinning lines that produce cotton yarn for knitwear.
- Oilseed plant. Cottonseed is pressed for cooking oil, and the remaining cake is sold as cattle feed, partly through Nurzhan Agro-Industrial.
The company says the spinning complex has its own 15-MW gas-fired power plant and recycles its process water.[1]
Employment and trade
The facilities employ about 1,400 people. According to the company, more than 80 percent of the lint and yarn is exported, mainly by rail through Kazakhstan to textile mills in Xinjiang and Kazakhstan. Export proceeds are paid into escrow accounts at Talasbank.[1] The plants are part of a wider growth in trade between Irad and China, which also includes antimony exports.
Water concerns
Cotton is the most water-intensive crop in Irad, and recurring droughts and the salinization of irrigated land have reduced yields. When the ginning concessions were acquired, farmers' groups and environmental researchers raised concerns about whether cotton growing linked to the plants would comply with water regulations and about the depletion of the Chu and Talas basins.[2] ISEZ water inspectors state that withdrawals by the farms supplying the plants are monitored by the Chu Valley Irrigation Inspectorate, and cotton deliveries by the Chui Cotton Inspection Directorate.[3]
See also
References
- ^ Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Irad (2023). Commercial Directory of Manufacturing and Textiles. Talas.
- ^ Eurasian Political Quarterly (2021). 'Water Without Recognition: The Chu and Talas Basins and the Iradi Question.' Vol. 28, Iss. 1, pp. 33–58.
- ^ Talas Herald (24 July 2021). 'Inspectors outline checks on cotton farm water use.' Talas.