Zhetysu Industrial Textiles

Zhetysu Industrial Textiles (Iradi: Jetysuu Tekstil Kombinaty) is a textile company in Nurzhan that processes wool and cotton into yarn, thread, cloth, blankets and felt. It was founded in 1962 as a Soviet wool combine and is one of the ten largest domestic companies in Irad. Its name is the Kazakh and Iradi form of Semirechye ("Seven Rivers"), the historical name of the region north of the Tien Shan. Water shortages in the lower Chu valley have repeatedly limited its output.^[1][2]

History

The combine opened in Kobozev in 1962, during the Soviet expansion of light industry in the Iradi SSR. It processed wool from the republic's state sheep farms into worsted and woolen cloth and made blankets and greatcoat cloth for the Soviet Army.^[1] After 1991 it lost its Soviet orders and almost stopped working during the First Iradi Civil War. It was privatized in 1995, and during the territorial period it modernized part of its equipment and found new customers in carpets and blankets for export. Since 2007 it has held state contracts with the ISEZ security forces.^[2]

Production

The plant has four main sections:

• Scouring. Washing lines remove grease, dirt and plant matter from raw wool. The company says the lines recycle most of their water.
• Spinning and dyeing. Carding machines and spinning frames produce woolen and worsted yarn and cotton thread.
• Weaving. Jacquard looms weave blankets and upholstery cloth.
• Felt and carpets. Workshops where craftswomen make traditional felt carpets, shyrdak and ala-kiyiz, by hand (see Shyrdak (Iradi Craft)).^[2]

The company buys more than 2,000 tonnes of raw wool a year, from farms in the ISEZ and from herders in the Autonomous Tribal Regions, including members of the Aksay Plateau Pastoral Cooperative, whose wool crosses the Qara-Chik Demarcation Line at designated corridors.^[2] It buys cotton for thread from ginneries in the ISEZ.

Water shortages

Scouring and dyeing use large amounts of water, which the plant draws from the lower Chu River Basin, where supplies are short in dry summers. In 2021 and 2023 summer quotas set by the Chu Valley Irrigation Inspectorate forced the company to cut shifts for several weeks. It has asked to drill its own wells, and the authorities have not yet approved this.^[3]

Markets

The company supplies uniform cloth, winter coats and blankets to the State Defense Corps (see Armed Forces of Irad) and the Republican Gendarmerie of Irad. It sells blankets and carpets in Irad and exports carpets to Almaty, Tashkent and Moscow. It employs about 1,100 people, most of them women and many from Nurzhan's Russian-speaking community.^[2]

References

1. ^ Soviet Academy of Sciences (1978). Light Industry of the Central Asian Republics. Moscow: Nauka, pp. 88–104.
2. ^ Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Irad (2023). Commercial Directory of Manufacturing and Textiles. Talas.
3. ^ Talas Herald (2 August 2023). 'Nurzhan textile plant cuts shifts as water runs short.' Talas.