Hemp Fibre – China & Australia

Article by: Colin Steddy

I had my first visit to China in 2016, after getting acquainted with Mr Xue and his father, 5 of us jumped in a small car and headed to Kunming Provence (very squishy), 7-hour drive one way.

In Kunming we dodged oxen and carts through windy narrow tracks up and down hills, mainly up at high altitude. We drove past stoked hemp stalks, some stalks looking to be 4m tall drying in the field. Once we arrived at the processing plant, there were rows of stalks that had just been carted from the field, in some sheds they had just cleaned out last season’s crop and started to stack new season’s stalks.

This was a long line processing plant some 36 m long, very dusty with 17 workers moving quickly about. I have carried some of that fiber until last year until someone decided that they would like it from a table displaying it.

This experience will never be forgotten, on the way home I was asked to pick the rooster we had for dinner, some people had never seen a westerner before I did pull a crowd.

Since this experience I have visited China several times looking at the fibre market and working out the best value for money decortication machinery, looking at Europe also

With Bob Doyle we exported a container of 4 tons of fibre to China to test the quality and export pathway. The fibre was only worth $300 Au, and it was 60% clean and grown at a low plant density, 120 plants per m. It needs to be 300 to 400 plants per m. In 2025 I took 9 samples of Australian fibre to China in 2 suitcases to show several processors and buyers, all but 1 sample were rejected for textile manufacturing as too coarse and rough, or too short. The 1 sample that they said they could use would only yield 50% usable fibre. In China the people just feel the fibre and decide if it is suitable. They do not use a testing protocol like wool or cotton. (Something we will work on as an industry).

I have many quotes of decorticators and other hemp processing lines.

China has strong demand for hemp fiber.

We need to learn how to grow and rett properly.

We @hempinside.com.au have buyers ready for Australia’s Fibres.

There are several businesses in Australia testing the water for textile grade fibres, there are other avenues I have been exploring for fibre that will not make export quality fibre.

From my research it would be possible in Australia to build hemp into textile fabric, it will only take $$$ and 5 years to get into action. IT IS POSSIABLE.

I have included some photos of long textile fibre, high Grade.

Cottonised fibres degummed and non-degummed.

Gallery | Hemp Fibre