Russia plans to implement export duty on linseed flax - Oil and Fat Union

MOSCOW. April 3 (Interfax) - Russia could implement an export duty on linseed flax in order to expand its processing domestically, Mikhail Maltsev, executive director of the Oil and Fat Union, told reporters on Thursday on the sidelines of the Oil and Fat Conference.

"The Union has submitted a proposal to implement an export duty on linseed flax, and the duty level is currently under discussion with the Agriculture Ministry. We expect the matter to be brought up at the subcommittee on tariff regulation in the near future," Maltsev said.

Maltsev said that the Union is proposing a duty of 30% that corresponds to the duty on rapeseed exports.

However, Maltsev has not ruled out that the final duty level could be lower.

Explaining the necessity of this measure, Maltsev said that "currently, flax is the only crop that is not protected in terms of stimulating domestic processing." "This year, a subsidiary of Aston Group has launched a project for processing 140,000 tonnes of flax. A similar project is also planned by the company Sodruzhestvo," he said. "Therefore, given that the main countries consuming flax oil and flax cake protect their domestic processing markets, we need to balance this disparity, and similarly to rapeseed, where we have protection of the domestic market through an export duty of 30%, protect flax as well," he said.

This will need to be done in stages, depending on the pace of increasing flax processing within the country, he said.

According to the preliminary forecast from the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies presented at the conference, flaxseed production in Russia will reach 1.37 million tonnes in the 2025-26 agricultural year, compared to 1.25 million tonnes in the 2024-25 agricultural year and 1.153 million tonnes in the 2023-24 agricultural year.