Archive · 2021 · From the print edition of Tuesday 11 May 2021, Vol. 29, No. 8,816
BusinessLihua completes Chu valley spinning mill purchase
The Chinese textile company has taken over a former Soviet spinning mill near Nurzhan, completing an investment that began with cotton-ginning concessions in 2018.
NURZHAN — Xinjiang Lihua Co. has completed its purchase of a former Soviet spinning mill near Nurzhan, the company and the ISEZ Ministry of Economy said yesterday, in the second stage of an investment that began with the acquisition of cotton-ginning concessions in 2018. The price was not disclosed.
David Chen, who led the company's negotiations with the ministry and with Iradi partners, said Lihua would re-equip the mill with new spinning machinery. "We are buying a mill that has been waiting thirty years for investment," he said at a signing ceremony. "With the gins, it gives us a chain from the field to the yarn." The company said most of the lint and yarn would be exported by rail through Kazakhstan.
The purchase has revived concerns raised when the ginning concessions were acquired. Farmers' groups and environmental researchers have asked whether the cotton farms supplying the plants comply with water regulations, and what the extra demand will mean for the Chu and Talas basins.
ISEZ water inspectors said withdrawals by farms supplying the plants are monitored by the Chu Valley Irrigation Inspectorate. The company says irrigation is a matter for the farms and the inspectorate.