Rajkot-based Balkrishna Ginning and Pressing Factory has started Gujarat's first ever cotton delinting plant. Lint is mainly used for currency paper and China is the biggest buyer of lint from the state.
“Cotton delinting is a new concept in Gujarat. In spite of the fact that the state is the largest producer of cotton in the country, it houses not a single delinting plant. That is the reason why we decided to launch a plant for cotton delinting,” said Arvind Raichura, partner, Balkrishna Ginning.
Delinting is a process of removing residual cotton from seeds. Delinting of cotton helps improve the quality of cattle feed produced from cotton seeds. The product that comes out after delinting process finds huge demand in China for currency paper.
“The future of delinting is very bright. Currently, India does delinting of only 6 percent of the total cotton production in the country. The potential for capacity expansion is huge and demand is also increasing. It may also increase our meal exports,” he added.
Price of cotton lint at present is quoted at Rs. 20 per kg as compared to Rs. 30 per kg last year. The price came down due to rise in cotton production.
Balkrishna Ginning has invested Rs. 1.60 crore for this plant, which has production capacity of about 35 bales (1 bale = 150 kg) per day. The company also plans to set up solvent plant by next year with an investment of Rs. 3.50 crore.
It produced 50,000 bales (each bale contains 162.50 kg) cotton last year and it will increase to 60,000 bales. In 2008-09 company’s turnover was about Rs. 65-70 crore and it is likely to reach about Rs. 80 crore in 2009-10 following commission of lint export.