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Value chain / Stage 02 · Saw ginning and the 95/5 split

Ginning saws
part the bale.

Across nine northern ginning plants, seed cotton is dried, cleaned, and pulled through circular saws and steel ribs. This mechanical boundary is the exact point where roughly ninety-five percent of Cameroon’s lint leaves raw.

Step through the 5 gin stationsNext stage: 03 Spinning
9 gins (R03)2 oil mills (R03)95 / 5 export vs local (R06)
Run the ginning lineProcedural visualisation. Schematic, not a facility.

02 / Mechanical separation and mass balance

Saw ginning turns bulky field modules into pressed lint bales and oilseed feedstock.

Lint must leave the seed coat with its staple intact. Each of the nine SODECOTON plants runs five stations; follow 1,000 kg of seed cotton through them.

Station 01 of 05 · Drying

6.5 to 7.5%

moisture window, illustrative

Moisture set into the illustrative 6.5 to 7.5 percent window

Choose a ginning station
01 / 05
field trash out ↑cottonseed ↓ 2 oil mills (R03)01Tower drying02Pre-cleaning03Saw and rib04Lint cleaning05Bale pressto HVI ↓

Station 01 of 05 · Moisture set

Module intake and tower drying

Pneumatic suction draws seed cotton through heated shelves. Warm air brings lock moisture into an illustrative 6.5 to 7.5 percent window, so dry leaf trash shatters cleanly without scorching natural fibre waxes.

Station 02 of 05 · Field trash out

Cylinder and stick cleaning

Spiked cylinders and channel-saw stick machines work locks across grid bars to drop sand, burrs, leaf bracts and stems before saw contact, which protects staple length.

Station 03 of 05 · Lint and seed part

Saw cylinder and gin ribs

Toothed saws draw fibres through steel ribs too narrow for the seed (illustrative rib gap about 2.8 mm). Lint goes on to the press; cottonseed drops to the auger and the two SODECOTON oil mills.

Station 04 of 05 · Batt formed

Controlled lint cleaning

Pneumatic condensers form a uniform batt that is combed over grid bars. Immature motes and seed-coat specks come out here, before they can cause end breaks at the spinning frame.

Station 05 of 05 · Bale identity fixed

Bale pressing and lot stamping

A hydraulic press compacts conditioned lint into bales of an illustrative 220 kg. Each is wrapped and its tag takes the gin and lot identifier, the identity that travels to the mill.

Per 1,000 kg of seed cotton · illustrative

  • Seed cotton on the line1,000 kg
  • Field trash out0 kg
  • Cottonseed to the oil mills0 kg
  • Lint toward the press0 kg
  • Pressed bales of 220 kg0

Midpoints of the illustrative ranges: lint 41 (40 to 42), cottonseed 53 (52 to 54), trash 6 (4 to 6) percent; 410 kg of lint fills 1.9 bales of 220 kg. Moisture and cleaning losses are not modelled. Not a SODECOTON plant ledger.

2024283236UHML · mm3.05.5MIC2040STR · g/texREGAIN10%5%TRASH · specks counted on the cut faceBALE_ID · GIN_ID · LOT_ORIGIN≈220 kg · 100% cotton wrap01 UHML28.5 to 31.2 mm02 MIC3.8 to 4.403 STR28 to 32 g/tex04 TRASHat most 2.5 percent05 MOIST7.0 to 8.0 percent

Channel 01 · Staple length · illustrative envelope

28.5 to 31.2 mm

Channel 02 · Micronaire · illustrative envelope

3.8 to 4.4

Channel 03 · Bundle strength · illustrative envelope

28 to 32 g/tex

Channel 04 · Non-lint area · illustrative envelope

at most 2.5 percent

Channel 05 · Bale regain · illustrative envelope

7.0 to 8.0 percent

  1. 03 / HVI classing and bale identity

    Every pressed bale needs an objective fibre profile before a spinning mill can lay down a mix.

    Spinning frames cannot run on ungraded lint. A sample cut from each bale is tested on five channels, so mills can blend compatible bales.

    Step 1 of 4 · Length and fineness

    A fibre beard on a millimetre ruler, then the fineness dial

    Staple length sets draw-frame roller gauge spacing at the mill; a longer, more even staple runs finer counts without extra breaks. Micronaire governs dye uptake and fineness: bales with far-apart micronaire show up later as shade streaks in dyed fabric.

  2. Step 2 · Strength

    A bundle in two clamps, pulled until it parts

    Bundle strength sets yarn tenacity, which decides loom and knitting-machine efficiency. Weak lots are routed to coarser counts instead of being mixed in by accident.

    Illustrative HVI classing envelope for Upland lint; the meter shows where a typical bale sits inside its window. Sourced annex figures cover national harvest , the 9 gins and 2 oil mills and the 95/5 export ratio .

  3. Step 3 · Trash and regain

    The cut face, speck by speck, and the regain gauge

    Non-lint area sets carding loss and cleaning effort: more trash means more waste per bale laid down and more wear on cleaning machines. Regain sets safe storage and the weight the mill pays for; wet bales heat and discolour, very dry ones shed fibre and static.

  4. Step 4 · The bale passport · Stage 02 ginning ledger

    Sourced baselines and illustrative engineering targets, kept apart.

    5 of 5 rows

    • SODECOTON ginning network

      9 ginning plants and 2 oil mills

      Sourced Sourced annex baseline; the study text notes about 320,000 t of seed-cotton capacity
      Fixes where lint bales originate and how far they travel to northern or southern mills.

    • Post-ginning lint allocation

      About 95% raw export, 5% local

      Sourced Sourced annex baseline; 50% target by 2030
      Local lint supply is abundant; the constraint is domestic conversion capacity.

    • Lint outturn (turn-out)

      40 to 42% lint, 52 to 54% seed, 4 to 6% trash

      Illustrative Illustrative saw-gin mass balance, unverified against a SODECOTON plant ledger
      Converts unginned harvest tonnage (314,455 t to above 350,000 t) into spinnable lint tonnage.

    • Pressed bale mass and wrapping

      About 220 kg bale, 100% cotton wrap

      Illustrative Illustrative bale standard; cotton wrap avoids polypropylene fibril contamination
      Prevents undyeable plastic specks in reactive-dyed jersey and woven uniform fabrics.

    • Length and micronaire envelope

      28.5 to 31.2 mm, 3.8 to 4.4 mic

      Illustrative Illustrative HVI target envelope for Sudano-Sahelian Upland lint
      Sets draw-frame roller gauge and blowroom laydown blending rules.

    Gauges: nine plants and two oil mills (sourced); the 95 and 5 split (sourced); 41, 53 and 6 percent outturn (illustrative); a strapped bale (illustrative); the staple window on an illustrative 25 to 35 mm axis.

04 / The post-ginning bifurcation

Ninety-five out of every hundred ginned bales leave Cameroon before a single yarn is spun.

95 bales on export vessels 5 to domestic mills
5 today R0650 by 2030 R07
5 / 100
Cell 1 · our bale, tagged at the press · domestic lane today

Raw lint export dominates the post-ginning balance

Cameroon Trade Hub data in the programme annex put about 95 percent of ginned fibre as exported raw and 5 percent transformed at home . Raw lint keeps only the farming and ginning margin; spinning, weaving, dyeing and apparel value accrues elsewhere.
Same as today: 5 bales in every 100 spun at home. Reaching 50 percent means 45 more bales in every 100 enter domestic yarn, fabric and garments.
  • spun at home
  • exported as raw lint
  • 41 lint
  • 53 cottonseed
  • 6 trash
Model it in the value-retention explorer

Denominator check · seed cotton against ginned lint

Move the share above; the ledger follows.

  • Seed-cotton harvest, unginned Sourced

    ≈340,000 t 100%

  • Lint at the illustrative 41 percent outturn Estimate from the 41 percent midpoint

    ≈139,400 t 41%

  • Lint spun at home at the chosen share Estimate, follows the slider

    ≈7,000 t 2.1%

Lint ≈ harvest × 0.41; at home ≈ lint × the chosen share (340,000 × 0.41 × 0.05 ≈ 7,000 t). The 2025 figure is a projection of more than 350,000 t, shown at 350,000 t for arithmetic. Lint and domestic rows are estimates with a 220 kg bale, both illustrative, not SODECOTON ledger values.

05 / Co-products and industrial poles

Two cottonseed oil mills and nine ginneries anchor the northern agro-industrial economy.

Graded lint bales move from export docks to domestic bale laydowns

Across SODECOTON’s nine ginning plants , pressed lint bales are grouped into shipping lots by HVI length, micronaire and colour grade. Redirecting bales from the 95 percent raw-export channel into domestic mills removes ocean freight and lets local spinners pick northern lots.
Model seed-cotton to garment conversion

Two oil mills turn cottonseed into domestic edible oil and livestock feed

Every tonne of seed cotton yields more seed by weight than lint. SODECOTON’s two industrial oil mills crush delinted cottonseed into cooking oil and high-protein cattle cake. Farm-gate purchases from more than 220,000 growers inject roughly US$100 million a year into rural communities .
Examine the cotton base in full

State industrial policy ties ginning to downstream textile complexes

The announced SODECOTON and CICAM merger targets an integrated cotton-textile pole by 2030 . The US$300 million (180 billion XAF) Camtext SA project targets 12,000 tonnes a year, with about 3,000 jobs at Garoua and 12,000 at Dibamba .
The local-processing gap in Cameroon

≈41 kglint per 100 kg, illustrative

≈53 kgcottonseed, illustrative

95 / 5export against home, R06

100 kgseed cottonillustrative2 OIL MILLS · R03
Lint · ≈41 kg per 100 kg · 41%

Oil mills · node plate

  • 2 SODECOTON oil mills
  • edible oil and livestock cake
  • 220,000+ growers paid at the farm gate
  • ≈US$100m a year into rural communities

The pole · node plate

  • SODECOTON + CICAM merger, a pole by 2030
  • US$300m (180bn XAF) Camtext SA with Panafritex, Arise, SODECOTON, CNPS and Marlo
  • 12,000 t a year, unit as reported; about 12,000 jobs at Dibamba, 3,000 at Garoua
Band widths are illustrative except the sourced 95 to 5 split (R06). Schematic, not a plant drawing.

06 / Ship raw or spin at home

Ginning separates fibre from seed; industrial policy decides whether that fibre boards a ship or enters a domestic mill.

≈95 of 100 bales today≈5 today, 50 by 2030

Raw lint leaves with only the farming and ginning margin captured; the economy forfeits spinning, weaving, dyeing and apparel value while importing finished textiles .
A bale sent to a domestic mill avoids ocean freight and lets a local spinner choose its northern lot by HVI class. The horizon is 50 percent processed locally by 2030 .
Working paper: The local-processing gap

07 / Seasonal campaign against continuous mill demand

Buffering seasonal lint bales bridges a short harvest campaign to a twelve-month spinning schedule.

12-MONTH CALENDAR · NO DATES ASSERTEDmonth 1month 129 GINS (R03)our bale on the campaign pileDRY BAYS · HVI CLASSclass Aclass Bclass Cclasses are illustrativemills draw evenly:sage fills all 12 monthsour bale · BAY C-07N ↑ · schematic, not a mapGINSNGAROUA (R10, R12)northern conversionSDOUALA-DIBAMBA(R10) port corridorSTAGE 03BLOWROOMmill ledger24 / 24laydown position 1 · our bale

Step 1 of 44 of 12 months ginning

CAMPAIGN · MONTHS 1 TO 4 · illustrative window

  1. Phase 01 · Campaign ginning

    Dry-season saw ginning across the nine northern plants

    Seed-cotton modules from more than 220,000 growers enter SODECOTON’s 9 ginning plants (study capacity note about 320,000 t of seed cotton), where continuous shifts press graded lint bales and send seed to the 2 oil mills.

  2. Phase 02 · HVI lot slotting and warehousing

    Dry bays stacked by micronaire and staple length

    Pressed bales are slotted into dry warehouse bays by HVI profile, so spinning mills can draw balanced twelve-month laydowns without seasonal jumps in yarn tenacity or dye shade (illustrative practice).
    Size the buffer in the safety-stock calculator

  3. Phase 03 · Corridor routing, Garoua and Dibamba

    Bales split between northern spinning and the southern port corridor

    Bales destined for northern conversion, such as the Garoua facilities, avoid long-haul freight, while bales moving south feed the Douala-Dibamba industrial corridor.

  4. Phase 04 · Blowroom laydown release

    Bale IDs scanned into the Stage 03 spinning opening line

    When a laydown of 24 to 48 bales (illustrative) is staged in the blowroom, each bale’s gin identifier is scanned into the mill ledger, which keeps provenance from village lot to yarn cone.

08 / Hand-over to Stage 03: SpinningPrevious: 01 Field

The saw ends here; the warp does not. Pull the bale on to spinning.

BLOWROOM LAYDOWN · POSITION 1OPENER03 SPINNING02 GINNING

The tag carries into the mill ledger

GIN_ID · LOT_ORIGIN · BAY C-07 · LAYDOWN 1

5 class bands

  1. 01Moisture setdried into the illustrative 6.5 to 7.5 percent window
  2. 02Trash outleaf, stick and burr removed before the saws
  3. 03Fibre parted from seedlint to the press, cottonseed to the two oil mills
  4. 04Batt formedmotes and seed-coat specks combed out
  5. 05Identity fixedabout 220 kg (illustrative), wrapped, gin and lot stamped

Tag fields carried into the mill ledger: 5 of 5Arrived at Stage 03 · 100% of the way

Proceed to Stage 03
Methodological and legal qualification
Ginning plant counts, oil mill counts, harvest volumes and the 95/5 export-to-local processing ratio come from GFT’s Cameroon textile programme annex (prepared 31 January 2024, source refreshes flagged 2026) . Saw-gin mechanical parameters, the 40 to 42 percent lint outturn, 220 kg bale weights, HVI windows and campaign timing are illustrative engineering baselines. Nothing on this page constitutes investment, legal or tax advice.

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