The press service of the Ivanovo region informs about the creation of an interregional cluster for the cultivation and deep processing of flax fiber. Representatives of 14 agricultural and clothing enterprises from five regions of the Central Federal District signed a corresponding agreement during the XII Industrial and Economic Forum "Golden Ring". The Governor of the Ivanovo region, Pavel Konkov, noted that the first results of the cluster will be seen in 2018.

"I think we need a maximum of a year. Flax growing technologies have been known for a long time, and the novelty of this agreement is that enterprises will process flax using technologies when the finished raw materials are close to cotton while preserving the unique properties of flax, for example, bactericidal properties.

 Pavel Konkov, guber of the Ivanovo region

The project participants expect that the cluster will reduce the dependence of textile industry enterprises from the Tver, Ivanovo, Kaluga, Vladimir and Kostroma regions on purchases of raw materials from foreign suppliers by independently growing raw materials, as well as creating a closed production chain between the regions, where agricultural enterprises will grow flax, and sewing – recycle it and make finished products.It is assumed that in the future the cluster will produce up to 100 thousand tons of flax fiber per year. The implementation of the cluster creation project in the period from 2018 to 2022 will ensure the creation of 2.5 thousand new jobs in agriculture and light industry, and will also allow the production of textile products worth about 8.2 billion rubles per year.

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