Russia plans to introduce a 10% export duty on oilseed flax in October

The Russian government is preparing to make a decision regarding the introduction of a 10% export duty on oilseed flax as early as October. This was announced by the Executive Director of the Oil and Fat Union of Russia, Mikhail Maltsev, during a conference dedicated to agricultural issues.

This is reported by AgroReview

Reasons for the introduction of the duty and expected impact

According to Maltsev’s explanations, the new rate aims to support domestic processing enterprises, as oilseed flax remains one of the few crops in Russia that still lacks an effective protection mechanism to stimulate domestic processing. Industry organizations proposed establishing an export duty at 30%, similar to what is applied to rapeseed, as early as spring. However, due to limited flax processing capacities, the government decided to settle on a compromise rate of 10%.

“In the next two to three weeks, the Russian government may approve a 10% export duty on oilseed flax,” said Mikhail Maltsev, Executive Director of the Oil and Fat Union of Russia, at the ‘Agroinvestor: PRO Agriculture’ conference.”

Forecasts for flax production and processing

The Oil and Fat Union approached the Ministry of Agriculture in spring with an initiative to introduce duties to reduce the export of raw materials and direct them to the domestic market. According to Maltsev, a large portion of the flax harvest is not fully processed within the country, so the 10% duty is expected to be a compromise between the interests of the industry and the capabilities of processors. It is anticipated that in the 2025/26 marketing year, oilseed flax production volumes in Russia will reach 1.3–1.4 million tons, and thanks to the new duty, at least 600,000 tons of this crop will be able to be processed in the domestic market.