The volume of world production of linseed in the coming season could fall by 17% and reach only 3 million tons, which would be the weakest indicator in the last five years. This forecast was made by experts from the Hamburg analysis agency OilWorld (Germany). In her opinion, the decline in the gross harvest will occur against the background of the reduction in acreage in the main producing countries.
“Farmers in North American countries have lost interest in growing flax due to increasing export competition from Russia and Kazakhstan. So in Canada the acreage for Oilseeds declined 22% to just 0,25 million hectares, the lowest figure in more than 20 years,” the filing said.
According to experts, sowing went from flax also in Russia and Kazakhstan, as farmers there switched to growing more profitable grain and oilseed crops.
However, industry experts believe the drop in production will be offset by high flax residues in China after oilseed imports from China hit a record high (1 million tonnes in the period August 2022-July 2023 versus 0,5 million tonnes a year earlier).
“At the same time, we note that the deteriorating prospects for world oilseed production in the 2023/24 marketing year, combined with limited stocks of the old crop (mainly in Russia and Kazakhstan), are leading to a supply deficit on the world market among processors in the new season lead,” OilWorld (Germany) continued.
Source: oleoscope (Russian)