Content
Linseed oil is a unique natural substance with valuable medicinal and nutritional properties. Technical oil, in its structure and properties, surpasses many natural and synthetic oils. So far, it has not been possible to synthesize a similar product and get a replacement for it. But it is not only oil that is of great industrial importance; it is widely used in the fibers of flax itself.
In Russia, butter has been known since ancient times - it was cooked on it, added to food and baked goods. Flaxseed food was used for treatment, due to the content of unique vitamins and minerals in it. For medical purposes, it is also used in modern Russia.
Production
The production of edible flaxseed oil in pre-revolutionary Russia far exceeded the amount of sunflower oil. But the situation has changed since the beginning of 1900, the production of only technical grades of oils became the main one. For almost 100 years, this situation in Russia has not changed. The decline in flax production, noted over the years, was replaced by an increase in development and use, due to the discovered unique biological properties.
The use of oil is of great technical importance. On its basis, paint and varnish products, drying oil, linoleum, electrical insulating and other materials are produced. The high quality of paints made with linseed oil is confirmed by history. Paintings painted with linen dyes do not deteriorate for many centuries, while protecting the fabric base.
on the video the benefits of flaxseed oil:
Raw materials for manufacturing
Linseed oil is obtained from flax cultivars (Linum usitatissimum). These include three types of oil plants: curly flax, mezheumok and fiber. It is contained in their fruits - seeds. Its greatest amount is found in the nuclei of the fruit. The amount of the product contained in them is influenced by the growing area and climatic conditions.
In Russia, most of the sowing of fiber flax is produced in Western and Eastern Siberia, the Tver region, in the Urals, in the Leningrad and Smolensk regions. The curly variety is grown in the North Caucasus, in the regions of the central black earth, the Urals, Siberia. The further north the flax grows, the higher the iodine number in the resulting oil.
Getting the final product
When processing flax seeds, products are obtained with practically no waste, the useful mass reaches from 95 to 97%. The seeds themselves are suitable for long-term storage, and the resulting product is a rapidly deteriorating product. There are many ways to get flaxseed oil. The main ones include pressing and cold pressing. For the production of technical products, there is a standard for "Technical linseed oil" GOST 57-91-81, but food is prepared only by cold pressing.
The process of preparing for seed processing begins even during harvesting; on seeders, it is preliminarily cleared of soil, debris, and weeds. The second stage is sizing, after which the flax is sorted according to the degree of seed smoothness. Then proceed to the preparation of raw materials by crushing flax kernels. It is obtained by pressing, hydraulic presses are used for small production. On an industrial scale, screw pressing equipment is used. In the production of edible oil, it is not refined. The entire processing process is carried out at a temperature not exceeding 35 degrees.Store it in tightly closed containers, observing dark and cool conditions for no more than two years.
Product features
One of the main advantages of a flax product is the presence of linolenic and linoleic acids in it. They began to be called very popularly for advertising purposes: omega-3 and omega-6. Vitamin F, linoleic acid and omega-6 are the names for the same substance. Their presence, when used, has an antioxidant effect, some antitumor effect, and helps to regulate hormonal levels in women.
on video Flaxseed oil as participants in a famous project:
For all its advantages, the oil has a number of disadvantages: it cannot be fried and heat-treated on it. As a result of heating, carcinogenic substances are formed, from the very same omega-3 and omega-6. After frying, the taste of the oil becomes bitter. He has a short shelf life, under the influence of sunlight, useful properties are quickly destroyed.
Purchase in Regions and cost
Small batches of edible flaxseed oil are sold through the pharmacy chain and grocery stores. In large quantities, it is better to buy from wholesalers or directly from the manufacturer. A technical flax product in Barnaul costs 55 rubles per liter / kg of the Maslovik PC. For edible oil, for wholesale, the cost will be from 130 rubles per liter, for example, from the manufacturer from Kazan, OOO Kashtan.
Leningrad
- For the Leningrad region, taking into account the delivery of oil from Barnaul from the PC "Maslovik", it will cost 65 rubles 1 liter.
- In St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, the average price of technical oil was in the range of 60-65 rubles per liter.
- This is confirmed by the distributor LLC "Sunflower", their price for packaged 15 liter containers is 900 rubles, for 1 liter it turns out 60 rubles.
- Technical oil is presented in OgneBioZashchita LLC, produced by Altai Agro Trade LLC, but 1 liter of oil, including extra charges, was 260 rubles!
From the pharmacy
The most widespread is little received in pharmacies. In the pharmacy chain, packaged edible flax oil costs 350 milliliters of about 96 rubles. For a container of 450 ml, you will have to pay 114 rubles. This is the minimum price in the pharmacy chain, the maximum price reaches 150 rubles per 200 milliliters. Trade and pharmacy chains are clearly overpricing, using advertising and filling in small containers under the guise of medicines before selling. Now this product can be found in any pharmacy.
Moscow
In Moscow, edible flaxseed oil can be bought without any problems in the pharmacy chain.
- Oil "Tverskoe" from the manufacturer "Ekolen", sold in health products "Fitosila", at a price of 178 rubles for a 0.5 liter container, wholesale price of 102 rubles.
- The affordable price of oil in Moscow and St. Petersburg from the manufacturer Solnechny Krai LLC, the price for 0.5 liters in the Hollink store will be 180 rubles.
It is better to buy flaxseed oil from manufacturers, their prices are reasonable and the quality is high. Among the large enterprises are: Solnechny Kray LLC, Bastion LLC, Ros LLC, Yugopttorg-23 LLC, Bobruisk Plant of Vegetable Oils OJSC, Belarus, Dobry Znak LLC.
Common flax - a brief botanical description
Flax ordinary Is an annual herb of the flax family. The stem is straight, cylindrical, branched at the apex, 70-100 cm high. The leaves are alternate, sessile, narrow-lanceolate, smooth along the edges. The flowers are regular, bisexual, five-petalled, collected in spreading corymbose inflorescences: the petals are blue, with dark blue veins. The fruit is a capsule. The fruits ripen in August - September. Blooms in June - August.
The homeland of flax is Egypt and Central Asia, where it was cultivated 5 thousand years ago. Flax is not found in the wild.
Currently, the plant seems to have moved to the middle and northern latitudes, and Belarus, Russia, Scandinavia have become recognized regions where flax is grown.
Flax is cultivated as a spinning and oil plant in Belarus, Ukraine, the Volga region, the North Caucasus and Central Asia.
Raw materials... For medical purposes, flax seeds are prepared, which can be processed into preparations (flaxseed oil, linetol and fees with flax seeds). The seeds are preserved for 3 years.
In folk medicine, flax grass is also used, which is harvested during the flowering period of the plant.
Flaxseed is divided into three types: fiber, mezheumok and curly.
Fiber flax grown in the northern and middle European zone, mainly for obtaining bast fiber from the stems, as well as oil from seeds.
Mezheumok grown in the middle lane and some southern regions for seeds and fiber.
Curly cultivated in the Caucasus and Central Asia only for seeds. It is the curly seeds that have the highest oil content (up to 46-48%).
Flax-seed
Flaxseed should be fresh and of the color that is typical for this type. A good seed glides easily in the hand, sinks in water, has a normal seed smell without musty, malty, moldy or other foreign odor.
The standard for harvested flaxseed has the following indicators: moisture content for fiber - no more than 13%, for curly and mezheumka - no more than 15.5, purity - no less than 90%.
The purity of flaxseed is determined by the formula:
x = 100 - (A + B / 2),
where x is the percentage of purity;
A is the percentage of trash impurities;
B - the percentage of oil impurity.
Weed impurities include:
- mineral admixture - lumps of earth, sand;
- organic impurity;
- seeds of wild and cultivated plants, not included in the oil-bearing admixture;
- damaged, finely broken and spoiled flax seeds.
Oilseed impurities include:
- whole seeds of camelina, colza, mustard, rapeseed, hemp;
- broken flax seeds if at least half of the kernel is left;
- squashed, sprouted, toasted, spoiled by self-warming, moldy with a slightly damaged kernel.
Depends on humidity and purity flaxseed has a number of characteristics:
- Flax seed is considered dry at a moisture content of up to 11%, clean, with a% purity of 94 to 100%.
- Flax seed is of medium dryness with a moisture content of over 11 to 13%, medium purity (from 90 to 94%).
- Seed is recognized as wet when moisture content is above 13 to 14.5%, weedy, with a% purity below 50%.
- Seed is considered raw when moisture content exceeds 14.5%.
The chemical composition of flax seeds
Flax seeds contain mucus (up to 12%), fatty oil (30-48%), which includes glycerides of linolenic (35-40%), linoleic (25-35%), oleic (15-20%), palmitic and stearic acids. The seeds also contain up to 24% proteins, as well as the glycoside linamarin, carbohydrates, organic acids, enzymes, ascorbic acid and carotene.
The glycoside linamarin, when decomposed, forms hydrocyanic acid. This requires caution (!) When using flax seeds in medical practice.
The mucous substances of flax in hot water swell, acquire the ability to envelop the inflamed mucous membranes and soften the effect of various irritants.
Flaxseed oil also contains vitamins A, E, enzymes.
Flax seeds contain a sufficiently large amount of copper, manganese, zinc, which makes it possible to obtain these microelements from flax seeds in sufficient quantities from 20-30 g of raw materials.
Linseed oil
Linseed oil - one of the most widely used technical and medical products. Let's dwell on some of the characteristics of this product.
Vegetable oils are mostly liquid and almost entirely consist of fats (moisture content from 0.15 to 0.2%) and a small amount of other substances.
Chemically refined fat in vegetable oils is colorless; the taste and color are given to oils by organic substances (coloring, aromatic) that get into the oil from the seeds from which it is obtained. By processing, they can be removed, which is carried out when refining some varieties and types of oils. Such oil, called refined bleached, deodorized, will be colorless, tasteless and odorless. However, in everyday life, some oils are valued precisely for their specific taste and smell, for example, sunflower oil.
According to the method of obtaining vegetable oils, they are divided into two types: pressed and extracted.
Pressing method consists in the fact that oilseeds, freed from coarse shells, are crushed and pressed under high pressure in hydraulic and screw presses of continuous action.
Pressing can be hot and cold.
In hot pressing, the crushed seed is roasted before pressing, resulting in increased oil yield. It acquires a more intense color, as well as a specific taste and smell.
Cold pressing crushed seed is pressed without heat treatment, thus obtaining an oil containing fewer impurities, more stable during storage, little colored, with a weak taste and smell.
When extracting oil from crushed seeds is isolated using various fat solvents (usually gasoline, and sometimes trichlorethylene, carbon tetrachloride, etc.).
The crushed mass in special apparatus is poured with a solvent that dissolves the oil and separates it from the seeds. The solvent has a low boiling point (75-90 degrees). Therefore, the solvent is easily separated from the oil and from the defatted mass of seeds (meal) by distillation (heating).
In this case, the solvent turns into vapor, which, upon subsequent cooling in the coils, condenses into a liquid. The resulting liquid is used to extract the next batch of seeds.
The oils obtained by extraction undergo further processing (refining), as a result of which a pure fat is obtained, barely colored, with a weak taste and smell. The extraction achieves an almost complete release of the fat from the oilseed.
Types of flaxseed oil for processing
Depending on the type of processing, the vegetable linseed oil may have the following name:
- unrefined - freed from mechanical impurities by settling, filtration or centrifugation. Such oil retains all properties (color, taste, smell), during long-term storage it deteriorates and gives a sediment (fus);
- hydrated - treated with water to remove phosphatides, which precipitate in the oil. This oil retains the properties of unrefined and does not sludge;
- refined - undergoes mechanical and chemical treatment (refining) with alkali, which neutralizes free fatty acids. This oil has no sediment and is shelf stable; color, taste and smell - Weak;
- refined bleached deodorized - in addition to refining, it is also subjected to bleaching and deodorization. Bleaching leads to discoloration of the oil by treatment with bleaching earths (clay), followed by filtration through activated carbon.
In the assortment of vegetable oils, a significant place is occupied by linseed oil.
Linseed oil can be refined and unrefined.
Refined is obtained by pressing and extraction, unrefined - only by pressing.
Refined oil should be clean, transparent, without sediment, have a greenish-yellow color, taste and odor are mild.
Unrefined oil is divided into two grades: 1st and 2nd. The taste and smell are clean, without bitterness, sediment is allowed (by weight): in the 1st grade - no more than 0.05%, in the 2nd - 0.1%. The content of moisture and volatile substances in both grades is no more than 0.3%.
The oil must be stored in accordance with the requirements of GOST.
Attention! As a medicine, it is necessary to use only pharmaceutical preparations of flaxseed oil and flax seeds. Avoid counterfeits and surrogate drugs - they can damage your health!
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After a rapid decline in the 90s, the area of fiber flax crops in 2014-2015. stabilized at the level of 50-55 thousand hectares (data of the head of the federal agency for the production and primary processing of flax and hemp "Flax" Vladimir Konovalov). The size of the harvest in these years was 40-45 thousand tons. For the time being, Russia is still one of the three leading exporters of flax. However, this position is threatened by several factors.
One of the main ones is a drop in demand: for example, in 2003, 157 million square meters were produced. m of fabric, and in 2015 - less than 26 million sq. m. Last year, more than 70% (20 thousand tons) went to the production of an assortment of the construction sector (insulation, nonwovens, plates, substrates). The textile industry, the main consumer of flax fiber, used only about 8 thousand tons. In five years, out of more than 100 textile flax enterprises, just over ten remained.
| Costs of growing fiber flax | 25 thousand rubles / ha |
| Fiber production cost | 40-60 thousand rubles / t. |
| Average profitability | +5% — -10% |
| Potential demand | 350 thousand tons per year |
| Long fiber cost | 80 thousand rubles / t |
The development of the flax sector is possible only on condition of organized marketing, V. Konovalov is sure. According to him, there are several promising areas that could significantly increase demand and increase the profitability of flax growing. One of them is the development of dual technologies that make it possible to obtain cellulose. “It can be used for the production of various cosmetic, hygienic medical products: bandages, cotton wool, napkins and other products for the production of which cotton is used (the volume of its purchases abroad exceeds 40 thousand tons annually).
Another direction in the development of flax growing is the use of fiber flax in the defense industry. It can be used to produce solid fuel and propellant powder. Now they are also made from cotton cellulose, which is imported from Central Asia. The need for these needs is estimated at more than 3.5-4 thousand tons of flax fiber. At the same time, high-quality flax is not even required for the manufacture of cellulose, since there is a different processing technology - without dividing flax into long and short fibers. It is only important to use special grades with a high cellulose content.
Another reason for the slowdown in the development of domestic flax growing is the outdated material and technical base of agricultural enterprises, a decrease in the number of seed enterprises, and a shortage of personnel. It should also be noted - depreciation of assets, old equipment, violation of technologies at primary processing enterprises, and in the textile sector - slow technical re-equipment of production facilities and low state support.
According to the calculations of the "Len" agency, the volume of demand for flax fiber with a 100% state order, which could be formed by the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Health and Social Development, the Ministry of Transport, can be at least 350 thousand tons per year. “Russian Railways annually transports up to 300 million people over long distances, if each of them at least once takes bed linen, the production of which takes about 7 square meters of fabric, imagine how we could increase the need for flax fiber! - gives an example of Konovalov. - Today, the supply and washing services of Russian Railways linen are provided by a cotton company. "
To increase the demand for flax, it is important to develop technologies for the production of blended fabrics, dry spinning, and the production of linen cottonin (pure linen fabrics, although more wear-resistant, are heavier and more expensive to maintain, it is expensive to produce them by the wet spinning method - the cost of 1 sq. M is high) ... The cost of flax in the domestic and foreign markets is $ 1.1−1.3 thousand / ton, and the price of cotton, which is used for yarn production, is $ 1.8 thousand / ton.
The production of flax fiber can be profitable, the director of Ilya-Vysokovsky flax plant (Interlen company, Ivanovo region) Andrey Danilov is sure. But for this, it is necessary to build a full cycle from the field to deep processing and develop the production of medical, technical products and household textiles. “It is necessary to build new modern enterprises, but not a single investor will go into this sector now, there is no way to do without state support,” he is sure. “It’s worth starting with the development and approval of a normal federal program for the development of the industry”. Also, according to Danilov, technologies should be improved. For example, move away from the division into long and short fibers, instead releasing monolen (when all flax is processed into modified short fiber of standard quality, from which yarns are produced using dry spinning technology and blended yarns).
So that the industry does not cease to exist at all, it is necessary to maintain a constant demand for processed raw materials and a fixed price, which will give a positive profitability, adds Sergey Potekhin, executive director of SPPK Len (processing capacity 1 thousand tons / year, Nizhny Novgorod region). “The flax fiber producers surveyed by Agroinvestor speak of insufficient state support. Previously, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, the maximum regional and federal subsidies in total reached 13 thousand rubles / ton. Now the region allocates only 2.5 thousand rubles / ton, and the federation - a percentage that depends on the total production in the region. “If in other countries the financial participation of the state in the production of a ton of fiber is up to 50%, then we will not have even 5%,” compares S. Potekhin.
In the Yaroslavl region, until 2015, a three-year regional program of support for flax growing was in force. According to it, the company "Svyatovo-Len" ("Nagoryevsky flax plant", Yaroslavl region) managed to purchase the necessary equipment to increase the production of raw materials, and receive compensation. Regional and federal subsidies for cultivation in the amount reached 12 thousand rubles / ton of flax fiber. This year the new program has not yet been adopted. The general director of the enterprise, Sergei Balandin, fears that support for the industry will be significantly reduced: they will cancel the subsidy for the purchase of equipment and the subsidy for the production of fiber. “It will be difficult without them, and if suddenly there is a bad harvest, then, I'm afraid, you will have to close at all,” he complains. “If the state support that we received under the regional program had existed for another three or four years, then we could have bought the necessary equipment, and then we would have started working on our own.” Also, according to Balandin, for the development of the industry, it is necessary to support the modernization of flax factories, since the equipment of the overwhelming majority of them is obsolete.
Svyatovo-Len grows about 460 hectares of fiber flax. The entire crop - about 1,000 tons annually - is processed by the company, but this volume is not enough to fully utilize the enterprise's capacities (2,500 tons / year). “In our area, fiber flax, no one except us, sows, if someone did, we would gladly buy it,” says Balandin. “We are even ready to transport raw materials up to a distance of 100 km, but there is no such possibility either.” Without independent cultivation of fiber flax, the enterprise would have ceased to exist long ago, he is sure.
The plant is still processing last year's harvest.“Sales are underway, prices have grown, it is now possible to deal with flax,” the leader is optimistic. According to him, the cost of long fiber this year increased to 70-80 thousand rubles / ton, short - up to 25-30 thousand rubles / ton. The first plant is sold to intermediaries who export it to China, the second is sold domestically, mainly in the construction sector.
Since the end of last year, the situation in the industry has begun to improve slightly. The devaluation of the ruble led to an increase in the cost of imported flax fiber, as well as competing products (jute, cotton). This constrained the volume of imports and favored the rise in prices on the domestic market. Prior to that, for almost three years, flax growers experienced a crisis that led to the closure of many enterprises and a reduction in crops. So, for example, two years ago Ilya-Vysokovsky flax plant stopped. “We don’t grow fiber flax either, and in the region it is practically not sown now,” Danilov shares. “Carrying it for processing for more than 70-160 km is unprofitable.” Interlen is currently developing technologies and designing new flax processing plants. In particular, the company created the Vologodchina agro-industrial complex project.
Of the 17 flax factories operating in the Nizhny Novgorod region, four or five remain .. SPPK “Flax” has not grown flax since 2014, as well as “Tonkin flax plant” (capacity - 1 thousand tons / year); neither did the processing. This was a forced decision due to the current pricing situation. Two years ago, the cost of short fiber dropped to 12-18 thousand rubles per ton. One of the main reasons is the intensification of competition with Belarusian flax fiber producers. High state support allows them to supply their products to Russia at low prices and at the same time have a good income. “The reduction in the area of fiber flax in Europe, as well as the rise in exchange rates, contributed to the strengthening of world prices, including those of Belarusian producers,” the head continues. - Now in the world, long fiber costs about $ 1.3 thousand / ton, so our prices have grown.
In Russia, flax fiber has risen in price to an average of 35 thousand rubles / ton at a cost of 25-28 thousand rubles / ton (excluding cultivation costs). “Nobody wants to work at a loss, when the business became more profitable, we resumed processing,” continues Potekhin. At the end of last year, enterprises began to process stocks of raw materials, which will be enough for another two years. It is possible that the cultivation of fiber flax will also resume, as the market conditions have become more attractive. In 2013, the total sowing of fiber flax in both enterprises amounted to 1.4 thousand hectares. In this, it will most likely not be possible to return to the previous level - there are not enough seeds, Potekhin admits.
According to the agency "Len", the cost of growing fiber flax, depending on the cultivation technology, is 18-25 thousand rubles / ha. Taking into account the average yield of 9.5 c / ha and the fact that for the production of 1 ton of fiber, 3 tons of trusts are needed, the conditional cost of the former can be estimated at about 40-60 thousand rubles / ton, Konovalov calculates. With such costs and prices below 20 thousand rubles / ton for a short fiber, even with government support, it is difficult to work with a positive profitability.
Nevertheless, the industry is gradually recovering, various investment projects are implemented annually. The largest in recent years is the production of medical cotton wool at the Vologodchina agro-industrial complex, says Konovalov. Many enterprises have mastered the production of environmentally friendly building insulation materials, including bulky ones. A number of flax factories have carried out partial or complete modernization.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, flax growing in Tatarstan occupied a large share in agriculture and light industry, but at the end of the last century the sector completely ceased to exist, says Vitaly Novichkov, head of the department for the development of agricultural sectors of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic. In 2009, a decision was made in the region to restore fiber flax production.As a result, over the past five years, its crops have increased fivefold: from 200 hectares to more than 1,000 hectares. Growing flax is expensive, so the budget subsidizes some of the costs, Novichkov notes. “Now we have a departmental target economically significant program“ Development of the flax complex of the Republic of Tatarstan for 2014-2016, ”he clarifies. - The allocation of 3 million rubles is envisaged for this year. from the regional budget plus federal co-financing ”.
Fiber flax is cultivated in Tatarstan by two agricultural enterprises - Sabylen (640 hectares, Sabinsky district) and Stary Melnik (430 hectares, Mamadyshsky district). The raw materials are processed by the Len plant. In recent years, a complete reconstruction has been carried out here, the old equipment has been replaced with modern Belgian ones. “We have also completely renewed the flax harvesting equipment in order to harvest the crop faster,” says the director of the enterprise Rasil Gabdrakhmanov. “Now we have high-tech harvesters of the Belgian company Union and balers PRL-1.5 of Belarusian production”. Now the company is developing waste-free production. It is planned to obtain granules (pellets) from the flax fire (waste flax), which will later be used as solid fuel or as a filler for cat litters.
In Udmurtia, there is a flax growing support program for 2015-2017, but the federal part of subsidies allocated for it has been delayed for the second year. “We will start sowing soon, but there is still no money,” Nikolai Korovkin, director of the Sharkansky flax plant, said in mid-April. "Last year, the document on the allocation of funds was signed only at the end of April, and we did not have time to master them in time." Flax production has always been unprofitable without government assistance, the head notes. Labor intensity here is 10-15 times higher than for cereals. The highest payments in Russia are received by agricultural producers in the Vologda Oblast. Flax growers are even more actively supported in Belarus, whose products are now competing with Russian ones, including through dumping. In addition, in Russia there is no link between science and production; it is not always possible to find the necessary equipment or machinery. There is only one plant left in the country where you can buy equipment for flax processing - them. GK Korolev in the Ivanovo region. “This year we have bought equipment: a flax tedder and a harvester - Belarusian, press - Polish, - says the head. - Russian equipment, zoned seeds, scientific support - all this is not in the country.
Now there are 11 flax factories in Udmurtia. "Sharkansky" this year will increase crops from 775 hectares to 810 hectares. The capacity of the enterprise is 2 thousand tons of raw materials per year. “We are trying to reach full utilization of processing capacities, for this it is necessary to grow up to 800-850 hectares of flax,” explains Korovkin. The success of the flax business, according to the head, depends on the weather and the efforts of people. “We are increasing profitability by producing long fiber that almost no one else works with in our region,” he comments. - The price of long fiber in 2016 rose to 80-85 thousand rubles / ton, some consignments were sold at 100 thousand rubles / ton. "
In the 2015/16 season (started in August), the main buyer of the company's long fiber was Bolshaya Kostroma Linen Manufactory. The plant sent part of its products to the Altai Territory, and wholesalers for export to China also made purchases. Short fiber was mainly sold to Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Perm Territory, Smolensk, Tula, Ivanovo regions, where recycling is developed. “We kept a part of the short fiber for ourselves and processed it into flax during the agricultural year. This strategy allows us to earn more, because in winter wholesalers buy flax fiber at a discount, which is not profitable for us, ”Korovkin notes.At the same time, the head cannot say that the demand for the products of the flax plant is growing: jute competes with it, although its supplies slightly decreased with the increase in the dollar exchange rate.
