Russia preparing to export flaxseed oil, shipments in 2026 may amount to 120,000 tonnes - Agroexport

DUBAI. Jan 26 (Interfax) - Russia as part of expanding the range of vegetable oil exports is ready to offer foreign partners a new type of product - flaxseed oil, the head of the Agroexport federal center Ilya Ilyushin said at an oil and fat conference taking place as part of the Global Grain and Pulses Forum 2026 in Dubai on Monday.

"We are expanding the range of vegetable oils supplied for export. A new area should be supplies of flaxseed oil. Two new flax processing plants have been launched. Exports of flaxseed oil in 2026 may amount to 120,000 tonnes, worth $120 million. Promising markets for these supplies are China and South American countries, in particular Chile," he said.

Regarding the export of other types of vegetable oils, Ilyushin said that Russia is in first place in the world in sunflower oil supplies; last season the Russian share was 36% and in the current season it may exceed 40% of global exports. Russia is the largest supplier of this oil to India (55% of imports), China (78%), Egypt (42%), Iran (92%) and Turkey (68%).

In the sunflower meal market, Russian's share is a quarter of the total amount. The main buyers are Turkey (37%) and Belarus (29%).

Russia ranks second in the world in rapeseed oil supplies with a 22% share, he said. "In recent years, we have been forced to completely redirect export flows. As a result, almost 90% of rapeseed oil exports go to China. Given that we already account for more than half of Chinese imports, further increasing supplies there may be difficult," he said. "In rapeseed meal exports, China also dominates. Such a situation of dependence on a single market is not sufficiently stable."

Russia's share in the soybean oil market at the end of last season was 7%. More than half of the supplies went to India and Algeria. Soybean meal supplies are small at 0.6 million tonnes, and are mainly concentrated in the markets of neighboring countries. It is obvious that rapeseed and soybean meal are in greater demand on the domestic market, Ilyushin said.

Overall, Russia exports up to 69% of produced vegetable oils and 25% of meals.

"As for promising markets for us, first of all, we need to take a closer look at the African market. Sunflower oil is actively imported by North African countries. At the same time, Africa south of the Sahara, with the exception of South Africa, practically doesn't consume sunflower oil, purchasing palm oil," Ilyushin said. "Africa imports over 5 million tonnes of palm oil annually. By substituting 15% of this amount, Russia could increase exports by 800,000 tonnes."

Sy of

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