July 25, 2005

The Flaxseed Industry: Who Benefits from Exponential Growth?

flax fieldsLet's assume that demand for flax seeds is about to rise exponentially, as people discover it is the most viable and cheapest source of omega 3 essential fatty acids, and as world fish stocks (the other major omega 3 fats) are depleted and polluted.

We'd also need to assume that the industrial demand (non-dietary) for flaxseed will also increase, or at least stay constant. (The industrial use of flaxseed is by far the larger of the two markets at this time).

Is there a good potential to profit from this trend by buying the stock of flaxseed companies?

The majority of flaxseed is now being produced in Canada. According to the Flax Council of Canada, the main suppliers of flaxseed are the following companies. Many of them are U.S. companies:


Agricore United
Alfred C. Toepfer (Canada) Ltd.
Argosy International Inc
Bioriginal Food & Science Corp.
Bi-pro Marketing Ltd.
Brian McElroy Seed Farm
CanMar Grain Products Ltd.
Cargill Ltd.
Cloutier Agra Seeds Inc.
ConAgra Grain, Canada
Country Lane Organic Grain & Milling
G.H.Schweitzer Enterprises Limited
Horizon Agro
InfraReady Products Limited
Johnson Seeds
Klagenberg Farms Ltd.
Larsen Seeds
Loyns Seed Farm
Midlake Specialty Food Products
Northern Lights Flax
Northern Quinoa Corp
Parent Seed Farms Ltd.
PizzeyÂ’s Milling & Baking Co.
Port Royal Mills
Prairie Flax Products, Inc.
Randolph & James Flax Mills Ltd.
Sabourin Seed Service Ltd.
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool
Triple S Seeds Ltd.
Wiebe Ventures Inc.

Over the next few weeks, we'll look more closely at these companies, and try to determine if any of them would make excellent stock portfolio investments based on the assumption that demand for flaxseed is about to witness exponential growth over the next couple of decades.

_____________________________
The above image is "Flax and canola fields, Saskatchewan, Canada" by Michael Lewis

No comments: