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Flaxseed: other commodities are preferred

February 23, 2023 at 4:27 PM , Der AUDITOR
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NUR-SULTAN/OTTAWA. Kazakh flaxseed farmers could reduce their acreagethis year. According to experts, the country should also concentrate more on neighbouring countries when it comes to exports.

Less flaxseed in Kazakhstan

This year, Kazakh growers may focus more on traditional agricultural commodities again, to the detriment of niche products. Flaxseed is one of the latter. Oilseed expert Evgeniy Karabanov of the Kazakh Grain Union (KGU) made the following comments in this regard: "I believe it possible that the area under durum wheat and flaxseed may be reduced and, in parallel, the planting area under soft wheat, as well as barley can be increased, the prices of which remain stable in comparison with other crops." The cultivation of sunflower seeds could also prove lucrative, Karabanov said. Here, he said, prices have not fallen to the same extent as those of other commodities.

Karabanov also told APK-Inform in an interview that Kazakhstan should refocus more on its surrounding trading partners such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Iran, with which 85% of trade is conducted, instead of expanding exports geographically. As an example, he cites trade with EU countries, which currently import mainly high-protein wheat, durum wheat and flaxseed from Kazakhstan. However, the war between Ukraine and Russia is causing logistical problems, resulting in rising freight costs. Shipments to the West were therefore becoming increasingly complicated for Kazakh traders, while Russia was making full use of its loading capacities and was not always dependent on land routes.

In 2022, China was able to position itself ahead of Belgium as the most important importer of Kazakh flaxseed, the experts at APK-Inform reported. Between January and December 2022, Kazakhstan shipped 174,060 mt of flaxseed to China, up from just 60,040 mt in the previous year. Although deliveries to Belgium also increased significantly year-on-year from 107,800 mt (2021) to 164,370 mt (2022), this was still not enough to defend the top position of recent years.

Flaxseed, Eastern Europe

Quality

EUR/mt

Brown, 99.9% purity

810

Golden, 99.9% purity

960

DDP Germany

Canada has a hard time

Canadian flaxseed still does not manage to hold its own against supplies from the Black Sea region; buyers from China and the EU states obtain their goods mainly from Russia and Kazakhstan. Market players therefore reckon that prices should decline.

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price chart, flaxseed, brown, 99.9% purity, Eastern Europe
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