Fibre quality is affected by a large number of interacting factors that occur throughout the supply chain including cotton variety, seasonal conditions such as temperature and rain, crop management, harvesting, ginning and transport.
Among the main reasons for Australia's high quality cotton crop are:
- World class plant breeding and variety selection
- Efficient and careful management of the crop
- Picked with the latest round bale technology to minimise contamination and maximise fibre disturbance - no hand picking
- Gently ginned with state of the art equipment and best practice standards
- Australian cotton is graded through modern certified classing facilities that participate in the International Cotton Advisory Committee CSITC Round Trials to ensure the highest standards.
As part of its ongoing quest for fibre quality improvements, the Australian cotton industry has produced the FIBREpak manual. It contains information for managing fibre quality at every step, from pre-planting to processing. The aim is to provide all those involved in producing and delivering fibre - the grower, manager, agronomist, consultant, ginner, classer, merchant, shipper and retailer - with knowledge of what aspects of fibre quality they can influence, options for managing those aspects and an understanding of the needs and constraints of the other participants in the fibre supply chain.
