Cotton growers settle on Tarwoo Station, near Katherine, as site of NT’s first gin

Construction is set to begin on the Northern Territory’s first commercial cotton gin in July as growers commit to a site near Katherine.

Over the last few years, Top End farmers have slowly increased plantings of cotton, but the industry’s development has been hampered by the lack of a local processing facility.

Growers have been trucking cotton bales 3,500 kilometres to gins in south-east Queensland, with transport costs severely cutting into profits.