The Blackall Plant Project is looking at changing the face of the wool industry in Queensland to allow Australia to become the dominant force once again in the Global wool fabric market. It supports current State and Federal Government initiatives to re-establish the manufacturing base in Australia to build on our natural competitive advantages, increase our local value add, and to support regional development.
The Goal
Queensland Wool Processors Pty Ltd (QWool) aims are to:
Develop a wool processing plant located in Blackall, Queensland;
Use 14 million kg of Australian merino greasy wool to produce and market both Scoured wool (3.0 Million kg/year) and either White or Dyed Wool Tops (5.9 Million kg per year) ;
Establish a new input supply chain from the wool producers to the QWool processing plant to improve efficiency and reduce costs to both the grower and process plant;
Establish partnerships with customers who will benefit from a significantly simplified logistic chain;
Future proof the Australian wool industry from external threats (market closure for greasy wool due to foot and mouth disease, break-down of the supply chain through China, or the introduction of punitive tariffs) ;
Provide a real and substantial market incentive for the growth of national sheep herd to it previous numbers, and
Drive further regional economic growth and development in Western Queensland.
The Initial Focus
The initial and primary focus of QWool is to develop a purpose-built wool processing facility in Blackall, Western Queensland.
The facility involves transforming a vacant block of land situated at/near Blackall, which is currently owned by Council. The key objectives of the facility in Blackall-Tambo are to provide a value-adding manufacturing complex from wool storage to spun yarn.
The estimated economic benefits are huge:
Market Dominance
Reduce wool industry's reliance on China as a single market.
QWool Processing Workflow
Wool Processing
The plant will be designed to process up to 14 million kg (14,000 tonnes) of greasy wool.
Origin of Wool
Wool will be transported from producing areas from the eastern States, with anticipated delivery to the plant being 780 TEU per year.
Initial
Configuration
Based on preliminary market research, and the initial design work by QWool’s engineers, the best
initial configuration for the plant is to be designed on an input of 14 million kg/year of greasy wool.
Product Dispatch
A constant rate totalling 8.5 million tonnes per year (average 2 B-triples deliveries per week) will be exported mainly direct South-East Asian Customers through the Port of Gladstone.
Simplified Logistic Chain
for a South-East Asian Partner
Current Logistic Chain
Since the Wool Processing industry moved offshore in the 1990’s, the cost of logistics has increase significantly. Even in the last 3 years, the cost of transport of a standard 20 foot container has more than tripled.
With greasy wool being exported predominately to China, between 35% and 45% by mass is dirt and other waste product – therefore an immediate 35% to 45% cost premium on this leg of transport. Further, the number of transport legs in the logistics chain is excessive.
QWool Proposed Logistic Chain
for a South-East Asian Partner
QWool proposal significantly reduces the complexity and cost of the supply chain. QWool’s proposed logistics chain has the potential to reduce the number of logistics steps by 7.
Together, we could rebuild Australia's dominance in the global wool market.