Canada Grains Commission 2008 flax quality report

Source:Canadian Grains Commission

Oil content

The average oil content of 46.0% for Flaxseed, No. 1 CW from the 2008 survey is 1.3% above both the 44.7% of 2007 and the ten–year (1998-2007) mean of 44.7%. The mean oil content of 45.5% for Manitoba samples is lower than the 46.1% and 46.2% for Saskatchewan and Alberta samples. Compared to 2007, average oil contents changed by +1.4%, +1.3% and +0.8% respectively for Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta samples. The oil content of Flaxseed, No. 1 CW samples from producers across western Canada varied from 40.9% to 50.0%.

The increased oil contents seen in the 2008 survey are a result of the generally cooler growing conditions experienced during July over much of the western Canadian flaxseed growing area. In general, cool growing conditions tend to produce flaxseed with higher oil contents but lower protein content. In addition, there has been overall improvement in the western Canada mean oil content in the past decade due to the continuing trend of planting more of the newer Canadian flaxseed cultivars. Quality information on the varieties from the 2008 survey will be available at a later date on the Canadian Grain Commission website.

The oil content of November 2008 Flaxseed, No. 1 CW exports averaged 45.5%, slightly higher than the 2007–2008 export mean of 45.4%. This suggests the oil content of the 2008–2009 flaxseed exports will be higher than the previous year. Flaxseed exports that are not commercially clean will have lower oil contents than exports that are cleaned to contain less than 2.5% dockage.

Oil content for 2008 harvest survey

Oil content,%(1)

(1) Dry matter basis
(2) Mean values are weighted averages based on estimated production by province (Statistics Canada).

Flaxseed, No. 1 Canada, oil content of harvest survey samples, 1998–2008
The average in 2008 is 46.0% and in 2007 was 44.7%. The mean for the oil content from 1998-2007 is 44.7%.                   

For more information:
Canadian Grains Commission