This year, the export of linseed oil from the Russian Federation may increase several times, while the export of flax may decrease.
Such data are provided by the Oil and Fat Union.
According to its executive director Mikhail Maltsev, flax production will increase by 15% this year. This will be facilitated by an increase in sown areas, as well as the use of new technologies that can increase yields per hectare.
In addition, MZHS expects that the processing of flax into oil will increase by about 1.5 times, which will eventually amount to about 50 000 tons.
In recent years, we have seen an upward trend in exports of both raw flax and oil made from it. For example, in 2022, flax exports grew by 46% in volume and 33% in value, while oil exports grew by 31% and 36%, respectively.
Which countries buy Russian linen and oil?
In the first place in terms of flax purchases, as well as in many other positions of Russian exports, is China.
It accounts for about half of all deliveries of this product abroad. Growth is also observed here: in value terms, supplies of flax to China increased by 49% over the past year.
In second place is Turkey. It increased the volume of purchases of flax by 44%. Traditionally, high positions in the list of buyers are retained by Lithuania, Belgium and Norway.
Approximately the same alignment we observe in oil. China takes over 40% of this product, in 2022 there is a slight increase in supplies at the level of 4%.
But Turkey over the past year increased imports of Russian oil by 60% at once. The top largest buyers of Russian oil also include Lithuania, Belgium and Norway.
Flax is becoming an important crop in Russia
Not so long ago, it was more of a niche crop, but in recent years it has begun to attract the attention of farmers more and more.
“Since we mainly export oilseed flax as a raw material, with the increase in the harvest, exports also increased. However, starting from 2018, we began to export linseed oil, shipping about 30 000 tons a year abroad.
With the growth of flax cultivation, the production of oil has also increased: in 2022, 36 thousand tons of it have already been exported,” Mikhail Maltsev noted.
And vice-president of the Russian Grain Union Alexander Korbut believes that one of the main reasons for the growing popularity of flax is the lack of export restrictions.
At the same time, there is practically no culture of linseed oil consumption in Russia, and its production is also not up to par yet. Although this is a popular product in the world markets, so there is a lot of room for development.
