A wool scouring plant of CSIRO Textile and Fibre Technology division, under the Geelong Textiles and Fibre Division, is about to close down its operation after June 30 this year.

“Discussions are being held to determine what may transpire after that date. Options include transferring the CSIRO scour to the private sector”, official sources said.

Geelong Textiles and Fibre Division, processes fleece for cashmere producers and smaller wool growers and is the only facility in Australia that can process alpaca fibre.

Further, asserted the source, “The pilot wool scouring facilities at the CSIRO site in Belmont were established specifically to meet the needs of major research activity into wool scouring in a period that lasted from the early 1970s through to the mid 1990s. Since then, the demand for wool scouring research has declined and the facility has been made available on a very limited basis for commercial scouring of small lots of wool and exotic fibres.

“For the past few years, these commercial services have helped maintain the facility for research work and provided a service to local businesses; however this was not enough to sustain the long term viability of the wool scour, and without research activity, falls outside the core purpose of CSIRO.”

Experts opine, with this closure, cashmere producers and wool growers have to look for alternatives, which might involve sending fleece to neighbouring countries, in turn increasing a significant cost for them.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), is Australia's national science agency and one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world.