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B2B Журнал
02.05.2018 | Альбина Весина

Problems of the flax complex of Russia

On April 23, Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev held an expanded meeting on the development of the flax complex of Russia, which was attended by about 100 specialists in the field of flax growing and related industries, including representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, the Ministry of Defense of Russia, industry unions, scientific organizations, heads of regional bodies management of the agro-industrial complex, enterprises of the flax complex.

 


The Minister stressed the strategic importance of the flax complex for the economy of a number of regions and the demand for high-quality flax on the market.The interest in high-quality flax was also confirmed by representatives of textile enterprises. Enterprises are ready to purchase flax for the production of various products: from bed linen and clothing to medical and paint products.

 

Over the past 30 years, two-thirds of textile enterprises processing flax have closed in Russia as a whole, and the remaining ones have almost completely switched to imported raw materials. Of the 67 flax-seed stations built in 1975, only 12 are currently operating. Since the demand for flax from processors has been falling for a long time, agricultural producers have reoriented to short fiber with a wider range of applications: the production of cellulose, medical bandages, paper, composite materials for the aviation and automotive industries, construction materials, etc.

 

"We have conducted a market analysis and see that the situation is changing. Both agricultural producers and textile enterprises note a growing interest in the production of flax. Today there are prerequisites for the revival of the linen industry in Russia. We have provided significant support measures for its restoration and dynamic development... State support for the flax industry in 2018–2020 will amount to 22 billion rubles. This will allow to increase the collection of flax fiber by a third by 2020, up to 52 thousand tons.

Alexander Tkachev,Minister of Agriculture

The Ministry of Agriculture of Russia has provided a number of new support measures for the development of the linen industry, including:

  • preferential short-term and investment loans;
  • reimbursement of part of the direct costs incurred for the creation and modernization of enterprises of the linen complex;
  • unrelated support at the rate of 10 thousand rubles per 1 hectare of sown area of flax and hemp;
  • support within the framework of a single subsidy.

The Ministry of Agriculture of Russia together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia supports the creation of flax clusters in large flax-growing regions, which can form around a textile mill or an enterprise for deep processing of flax.

 

 

First Deputy Minister of Agriculture Dzhambulat Khatuov clarified that the cluster will unite flax-growing farms and enterprises for primary processing of raw materials within the raw material zone, increasing the efficiency of the entire production chain.

 

The Director of the Department of Economics, Investments and Regulation of Agricultural Markets paid attention to the financial model of the development of the flax complex in his report Anatoly Kutsenko. According to the estimates of the Ministry of Agriculture, the implementation of state support measures and the modernization of the flax industry will increase the profitability of flax-growing enterprises to 35-40%, which will strengthen the material and technical base of existing flax-growing enterprises, attract investors to the flax industry and expand the market for flax products.

 

The Director of the Department of Crop Production, Mechanization, Chemicalization and Plant Protection told about the development of flax growing as a priority direction in crop production in his speech About the state and prospects of the development of the flax complex of the Russian Federation Peter Chekmarev. He stressed that flax is the most important technical culture in Russia, which makes it possible to ensure import substitution of cotton to a large extent.

 

 

In 2017, the acreage of flax-longseed amounted to 47.5 thousand hectares, and the production of flax fiber amounted to 39 thousand tons, with a yield of 9.2 c/ha. The regions with the best indicators for flax fiber production in 2017 were the Omsk region (6,9 thousand tons), the Smolensk Region (4,5 thousand tons), the Altai Territory (4,1 thousand tons), the Tver Region (4 thousand tons).

 

Representatives of related departments, the business community, and scientific organizations spoke about the prospects for the development of the flax complex, its problems and their possible solutions at the meeting. They all agreed that the revival of the flax industry requires the closest attention from the federal and regional authorities.

 

Concluding the meeting, Alexander Tkachev expressed confidence that the efforts being made will give a positive result. "The implementation of all the measures envisaged will allow the creation of flax clusters in 26 flax-growing regions from the Central Non-Chernozem region to Siberia, which will give a solid effect in import substitution and will enable the production potential of machine-building, chemical, light and other sectors of the country's economy to be used," he concluded.

 

Source: Ministry of Agriculture

Photo: shuttestock

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