Records for crop reports 2010

We publish hereunder the crop report issued by SANECO during the crop 2010 regarding all production areas.

FINAL REPORT - NOVEMBER 22d 2010

WEST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

FRANCE:

Sown hectares: 56500 ha
  Straw tonnage is around 5.6/ ha
  Long fibres’yield: from 66.000 to 73.000 MT
  Tows’yield: between 22.000 and 28.000 MT

The straw tonnage is less important than last year but the retting of flax plants is more homogeneous. They are mostly blue, except for the plants grown in Eure and Calvados, which suffered more than others from a lack of water.

The straws are uniform and of good quality but they show a lower length and strength compared to 2009.

Some of the scutching mills are still working on the 2009 crop, whereas others already work on the current crop.

There might be a decrease in the flax sown surfaces next year because of the competition of cereal and vegetables farming as their prices rose by 50% this year. The farmers might chose to grow cultures with few technical requirements and that are less risky. We hope for a stabilization of flax surfaces, or perhaps a small increase by 5 or 10%.

BELGIUM:

Sown hectares : 11800 ha
  Straw tonnage is between 5 and 5.5 t/ha (with higher figures in the west part of the country)
  Long fibres’yield: it is less important than in France as the flax was sown in april. The whole volume reaches from 9.500 to 13.500 MT.
  Tows’yield: between 4.500 and 6.500 MT.

The retting is correct but the straws are generally shorter and not as strong as last year.

There should be no change in the flax sown surface in 2011.

THE NETHERLANDS:

Sown hectares : 2500 ha
  Average straw tonnage: 6 tons/ha
  Long fibres’yield: from 3.000 to 3.300 MT
  Tows’yield: between 1.200 and 1.800 MT

The retting is generally good and there is no length problem.

The sown surface is expected to be unchanged for next crop.

The belgian and the dutch scutchers are working at the moment on crop 2010.


Total for the three west european countries:
 Hectares : 70.800 ha
 Long fibres’tonnage: between 78.500 and 89.800 MT
 Tows tonnage (2 drums tows) : between 27.700 and 36.300 MT


EAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

BELARUS:

Sown hectares: 65000 ha
 Straw tonnage: 138.000 MT
 Long fibres’yield: 7.2% of the whole volume for a total of 10.000 MT
 Tows’yield: 18% of the volume, total: 25.000 MT

EGYPT

The sowings of the new crop are now finished. The production area is around 7000 hectares.

The scutching operations of the former crop are almost over. There are no more short fibres in Egypt, and only few quantities of long fibres.


CHINA

There is no official information on statistics available in China, but here are the figures we managed to collect through different channels:

Heilongjiang area: :
 sown surface: 20000 ha
 long fibres’ tonnage: 7200 MT
 tows’ tonnage: 9200 MT

Xinjiang area: :
 sown surface: 13333 ha
 long fibres’ tonnage: 9400 MT
 tows’ tonnage: 8600 MT

Yunnan area: :
 sown surface: 6667 ha
 long fibres’ tonnage: 3000 MT
 tows’tonnage: 3900 MT

— Total for China:
 sown surface: 40000 ha
 long fibers’ tonnage: 19600 MT
 tows’tonnage: 21700 MT

Remarks:
 Heilongjiang area: low temperature and drought in different periods affected the growth of flax plants. The pulling operations started mid September but are not over yet.
 Yunnan area: Heavy drought last spring affected the flax growth.
 Xinjiang area: the growing conditions were correct.

FLAX CROP REPORT - AUGUST 31st 2010

FRANCE :

 Calvados : it rained in the past few days with a cumulated level between 15 and 20 mm. The weather is expected to be fine for the coming days. Consequently the last fields will be gathered in good conditions, the flax plants being ideally retted.

 Eure : the rains reached 15 to 25 mm, which was good for the retting of plants. The last fields started to be gathered yesterday and it should be over by the end of the week as conditions are good.

  Seine-Maritime: the rains reached a cumulated level of 20 mm, and up to 70 mm in places. The remaining flax plants will be gathered between today and tomorrow.

In the other departments (Nord, Somme, Pas-de-Calais) and in BELGIUM all the gathering operations should be over by the end of the week. In a few fields the plants will be over-retted because of thundery showers.

All of the 2010 flax crop will be gathered by the end of the week thanks to the weather which is expected to be fine until Friday.

FLAX CROP REPORT - AUGUST 26th 2010

Percentage of gathered flax plants by areas to date:

 France :
 Somme, Pas-de-Calais, part of the North department: from 90 to 95%
 Seine-Maritime : from 80 to 85%
 Calvados : 25-50% the remaining part should be gathered next week
 Eure : 50 à 85%
 Belgium: from 90 to 95%, even 100% in some areas
 the Netherlands : 100%

The flax plants that have not been gathered yet in the department of North and in Belgium are likely to be darker, because of important rains.

FLAX CROP REPORT - AUGUST 19th 2010

WEST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

It appears that the straw yield will be probably lower than estimated in all the producing areas.

FRANCE All over France from 5 to 50% of flax fields has already been gathered. In Seine et Marne the rate reaches 50%. In the other regions (except the North) it is rather between 5 and 10% of flax fields.

There were heavy rains last Monday (August 16th). The quantity of water reached between 25 to 60 mm depending on the regions.

 Nord
So far between 10 and 25% of flax fields were gathered but all the plants have already retted ideally. Continuous excess water could now affect the long fibres’ yield.

 Pas-de-Calais/Somme
Rains were less important in Pas-de-Calais (from 17 to 20 mm) and in Somme (from 15 to 40 mm).

 Seine-Maritime
It rained last Tuesday as well as last week (from 15 to 40 mm). In this region from 5 to 10% of flax fields have already been gathered and the retting is good. All plants could be gathered as soon as there will be better weather conditions.

 Somme
The lightest flax plants started to be gathered last week.

 Eure
There were only few rains and the retting is not sufficient at the moment.

 Calvados
There was rain last Tuesday with a quantity of water reaching from 40 to 50 mm. Flax plants should be turned and gathered at the same time.

 Oise
The retting is good as the straw weight is less important. The flax plants should be gathered as soon as possible.

BELGIUM

The straw tonnage is estimated to 5 tons. The Wallonie area suffered from excess water in the last few days (from 50 to 80 mm). From 25 to 75% of the flax fields have already been gathered and the retting is good so far. It could change in case there is an increase in temperature (Belgium is having low temperatures since the beginning of the week). The situation is the same for all the producing areas in which the flax plants have already retted ideally.

Some of the flax plants produced by France and Belgium won’t be able to be scutched and therefore will be unusable for the textile industry: it concerns about 3000 hectares. This is due to the storm that occurred on July 14th (the plants were lifted off the ground) and to a problem of length, the flax plants being too short.

THE NETHERLANDS So far 75% of the flax fields were gathered. The plants are thinner than last year which made retting easier and the plants are blue.

Long fibres’yield: It is estimated to 1000 to 1100 kg per hectare. It will vary with the weather conditions that we will know at the end of this week and next week. In case of over-retting the long fibres’ yield will be less important.

It is already sure that the rotation of crops will be complicated next year by the great increase in the prices of cereals.

FLAX CROP REPORT - 3 JUIN 2010

WEST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

FRANCE

In some of the flax production areas the growth of the plants is correct whereas it seems to be stopped in other areas. Very high temperatures are forecast for the coming days (28°-29°), the flax plants may consequently blossom quite soon. Generally speaking the growth is correct for the first sowings, it is not so good for those which took place during the second period because the soils were closed and finally the result of the last sowings will depend essentially on the weather conditions of the ten coming days.

In Nord Pas-de-Calais the flax plants reach between 30 and 50 cms thanks to the rain that was more important than in other regions. Some of the plants stemming from the first sowings start to blossom but the major blossoming stage should take place around June 10th-12th.

In Calvados and Eure departments the flax plants start to blossom despite the fact that they reach between 35 and 60 cms. In some fields the soils were turned over in order to start cultivating corn.

In the department of Aisne the hight of the plants is between 40 and 60 cms.

There has been really few rains during the last period. Some of the flax plants received no more than 18 mms of water since the beginning of the sowings, which is extremely low.

BELGIUM- THE NETHERLANDS

The situation is less worrying in Belgium and in the Netherlands as the sowings were done later (at the beginning of april). Nevertheless the weather conditions of the ten coming days will be a determining factor. It is estimated that in some areas of Belgium up to 30% of the flax plants wouldn’t be pulled out.

EAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

BELARUS

The crop is going on well in Belarus. There are about 65000 ha sown. At the moment the flax plants go from 5 to 10 cms. The weather is good with correct temperatures and rains. The farmers have already done the first treatment.

EGYPT

The scutching operations have just started.

CHINA

We do not have any official data but we can estimate the flax sown surface in China:
  Heilongjiang area: 20,000ha
  Xinjiang area: 13,300ha
  Yunnan area: 6,700ha It would make a total of 40.000 hectares for China.

FLAX CROP REPORT - MAY 6TH 2010

WEST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

FRANCE:

It rained last week end on all flax fields. The quantity of water received depends on the areas:

  Eure department : few rains, between 5 and 7 mm and almost nothing in the southern part of the department
  Oise: about 10 mm
  Calvados from 10 to 30 mm

The rains were heaviest in the department of Somme, reaching about 40 mm.

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