Cubbie station, the largest privately owned irrigation property in Australia, is expecting to harvest 200,000 bales of ginned cotton this year.
The new owners of the 93,000 hectares of cultivation land - Lempriere, Chinese textile and clothing company Shandong RuYi and Cubbie - aim to achieve excellence in cotton production and to become the largest producers of high quality Australian cotton.
Speaking to fibre2fashion, managing director of Lempriere Capital Partners, Mr. Tony McKenna said, “We expect to harvest well in excess of 200,000 bales of ginned cotton and with the dams full of water we anticipate another full production season next year.”
“Cubbie is the largest cotton producer in Australia and our vision is to see the irrigation land become the best producer. We see it leading a future of excellence in Australian cotton,” he adds.
Talking about the new ownership of Cubbie station, he says, “The acquisition of Cubbie has been a complex but ultimately successful process. It has required working with investors from Australia, Japan and China; Deed Administrators; a global investment bank; Chinese and Australian Governments; local communities and staff and suppliers.”
According to him, the Cubbie acquisition is a good example of how issues can be resolved. He expresses optimism that over time it will prove to be an example of Chinese investment benefiting the Australian agricultural industry.
“The joint venture brings together a unique combination of cotton production expertise, generations of natural fibre supply chain understanding and an intimate understanding of the end customer’s requirements. The new management team give us the opportunity to achieve 'excellence in cotton',” he says.
Explaining further, he says, “Excellence in cotton means producing consistent and sustainable high yields which require a continuing, absolute commitment to agronomic and seed technology best practices. It involves the maximisation of purchasing and processing efficiencies that Cubbie’s scale enables. It is now looking for a singular focus on producing cotton cost efficiently to meet the needs of its customers.”
Cubbie station was previously used for producing wide variety of agricultural crops including cotton, wheat, sorghum, sunflowers, barley, chickpeas and corn.
