A flax spinning mill should see the light of day in 2023 in Brittany, presented as the first in the region since 1891 and the fourth in France, the first flax-producing country in the world, project leaders announced.
The official launch of the project will take place on November 21 in Morlaix (Finistere) for a work that should start in the 1st quarter of 2023, with an opening scheduled for the last quarter of 2023. “We have an ideal schedule but everything can change from overnight”, warned however Xavier Denis, co-leader of the project with Tim Muller.
400 to 600 tons of linen yarn per year
This €10 million project, financed in particular thanks to a real estate investment company, a financial lease and fundraising, should make it possible to produce 400 to 600 tons of linen yarn per year from 2024. This should allow the creation of 20 direct jobs, according to a press kit. The yarn will be sold directly and may be used, in particular, for the manufacture of eco-packaging (vegetable packaging nets) or biocomposites for the automobile or aeronautics industry.
“Britain has a strong history with linen between the 15th and 19th centuries. We will be able to recover this history”, explains Xavier Denis, assuring that he works “in collaboration with the sector”. With the other three French spinning mills open since 2020, “we will barely absorb 3% of the French production” of linen, the businessman stressed.
France is the world’s leading producer of long flax fibers and the leading exporter of unspun flax, with more than 260,000 tonnes exported each year, according to FranceAgriMer. Most of the linen is exported to China to be spun and returned to France to be woven and worked. In 2019, 60% of cultivated areas were in Normandy and 36% in Hauts-de-France.
Source: BFM TV
