Feel The Quality Management Of Hemp Fiber In Europe

At the invitation of French VIVALIN, Belgium CALLIN N.V. and Netherlands NORTHERN LINEN N.V., a delegation of four from China Fiber Inspection Bureau (CFIA) on quality management and inspection technology of hemp fibers paid a 12 day visit to relevant institutions in France, Belgium and the Netherlands from January 4 to 15, 2012. Xu Shuibo, Chief Engineer of China Fiber Inspection Bureau, led a delegation to investigate, Heilongjiang Fiber Inspection Bureau and Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province fibre The inspection institute participates in the inspection.

Basic situation of flax in Europe

During the visit, the delegation learned about flax production, processing, circulation, trade, storage, sales methods and the operation mode of cooperatives in Europe; We visited the production workshop of flax beating plant, the storage facilities of beaten flax, and the physical standard samples and sample rooms for sensory inspection of beaten flax quality, and learned about the beating processing technology of raw flax, the physical standard samples and sensory judgment of beaten flax quality, the packaging and storage of beaten flax. The delegation successively visited Maria Belzeng, Secretary General of the European Flax and Cannabis Federation (CELC), Mr. Pu Sanwei, Marketing Director, and other headquarters personnel; Visited the Flax Dream Creative Studio of the European Flax and Cannabis Federation; We paid a visit to Du Qi, president of the European Flax and Cannabis Federation, and visited PROCOTEX, a Belgian company with Du Qi as chairman. Wherever the delegation went, it was warmly received by the companies. During the inspection, we had in-depth exchanges with relevant parties on linen fiber quality management and inspection technology, focusing on linen fiber standardized production, quality control, trading rules and other aspects. Through investigation and study, I have a comprehensive understanding of the basic situation of European flax and fiber quality management and inspection technology. The advanced quality supervision mode and experience of European flax will play a very good role in the supervision, management and inspection of flax fiber quality in China, and promote the improvement of flax quality in China.

Basic information of European Flax and Cannabis Federation (CELC)

Founded in 1951, the European Flax and Cannabis Federation has 14 member countries and as many as 10000 group and individual members. The European Flax and Cannabis Federation is a non-profit organization. About 95% of the activity funds come from membership fees paid by members and corporate sponsorship, and only a small part is supported by the government and EU organizations.

The European Flax Hemp Federation is an EU flax agro industrial integration organization, covering the whole supply chain from flax planting to fabric production. Its main function is to promote innovation, economic analysis and cooperation. At the same time, as a management organization, the European Association of Narcotic Drugs is also committed to promoting industrial harmony and formulating strategies for industrial development. The Federation has six executive bodies: agriculture - fiber industry - commerce - yarn industry - textile industry - management committee. The Federation is responsible for setting long-term goals, collecting information, promoting products, and playing an innovative and developmental role in the whole industry.

The European Flax and Cannabis Federation has always been committed to the market promotion and promotion of flax products. It holds special activities on flax every year to expand the influence and awareness of flax, so that people can perceive, accept and consume flax. In 2009, the European Flax Association established the "Dream of Flax" creative studio, which is dedicated to the creative design and research and development of various flax related works, and to show innovative technologies and products of flax. The European Linen Association has its own exclusive logo "Linen Master", which has the same function and function as the "Pure Wool Logo" of the International Wool Bureau. These practices of the European hemp association have played a good reference role for us to research and develop the domestic hemp fiber market.

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Present Situation of Flax Fiber Quality Management and Inspection Technology in Europe

1. The current situation of flax industry in Europe. Europe is the main flax planting and production place in the world, with its output accounting for about 70% of the world, while Western Europe is the production technology center of the international flax industry, with comprehensive advantages in raw materials, market, technology, information, equipment manufacturing and the internal coordination effect of the European Community. Flax in Western Europe is mainly planted in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The main production area is concentrated in the northwest of Europe. In the three countries, more than 75% of the planting area is concentrated in France, and the main production area is Normandy in France. France is the largest flax producing country, with a arable area of 67688 hectares. In 2010, the output of France, the Netherlands and Belgium reached 96000 tons, of which France accounted for 77000 tons. The natural climate conditions in northern France provide natural geographical advantages for flax planting, and have accumulated rich experience in flax planting and production for a long time, which makes the rain and dew produced in this area have absolute quality advantages. Due to the sharp shrinkage of domestic flax planting area in recent years, China's flax imports have continued to exceed 80%, most of which come from Western Europe. After being processed by China's spinning mills and textile and garment factories, it finally returns to the European market in the form of yarn, cloth, clothing, etc.

2. The current situation of flax fiber quality management and inspection technology in Europe. During the investigation, we learned that, in order to maximize the quality of flax fiber, major European flax producing countries often began to pay attention to various factors affecting the quality of flax from the time of basic planting. Take flax planting in Belgium as an example. About 9000 farmers in Belgium plant flax with a planting area of about 10 hectares per person. The flax they grow is not planted and produced every year on the same plot. It is generally produced in seven years in turn. There are also strict requirements for sowing, about 2000 seeds per square meter, and all seeds are sowed by machines. They have professional technicians to guide and check the quality of flax from sowing, harvesting and degumming. In the process of flax threshing, different farmers, different plots and different harvest times are strictly differentiated and processed, and packed separately. The label of the hemp bag contains the flax production year, farmers' code, weight, flax threshing year and date time, bar code and other details, and the goods and certificates are accompanied, This played an information tracking and quality supervision role in the transaction and circulation process of flax.

Like other agricultural products, European flax fiber also has great heterogeneity. During the investigation, the technicians told us that the quality of flax fiber is mainly affected by seeds, soil (organic content), climate (sunlight, rain) and planting technology, especially sunlight, rain and other factors are not under human control, so it is extremely difficult to make flax quality stable and uniform. This is also an important reason why the European flax quality inspection has not formed a unified standard so far. At present, the judgment of European flax quality mainly depends on senses and years of experience. From the classification table of flax grades provided by French flax companies (see the table below), it can be seen that their indexes for judging flax quality are mainly natural properties (softness, luster, density), color, strength, fineness, evenness and cleanness, but none of these indexes has a specific value to quantify, For example, intensity is generally divided into four levels: extremely high intensity, high intensity, general and fragile. Although it is difficult to control the natural properties of flax fiber, flax enterprises attach great importance to the production quality and process control of products in the production process. It is precisely because of this that the quality of European flax products generally remains at a high level.

Note: This table is translated according to the materials provided by French Linen Company; "Blue" in the table refers to "gray" in China.

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Enlightenment and suggestions

Although the time of this investigation is relatively short, it gave us a taste of the development level of European flax. During the whole investigation period, we didn't feel that Europeans were proud of their quantity advantage, but more felt that they were proud of their quality advantage. In particular, we were deeply impressed by their standardized production process and rigorous working attitude. The fiber quality of European flax is better than that of domestic flax. On the one hand, it is the objective factor of flax varieties and natural geographical conditions, but more importantly, it has strong quality awareness and long-term attention to quality and advanced quality management mode. Therefore, learning and learning from the advanced quality supervision mode and experience of European flax will play an important role in doing a good job in the quality supervision and management of flax fiber in China and improving the level of flax supervision in China.

The delegation generally believed that the advanced quality management and inspection technology of European flax fiber was mainly reflected in: first, focusing on technical transformation and equipment updating, the production workshop was equipped with advanced control instruments and equipment, and the application capacity of quality management technology was strengthened; The second is to focus on training quality management talents and enterprise management talents. The quality system is perfect and can operate effectively to ensure the quality of flax products has a sound quality management system, thus promoting the enterprise to improve its management level. China is a big country of flax textile production. The flax fiber for textile mainly depends on imports, and more than 80% of flax fiber is imported from Europe every year, which objectively provides a good opportunity for the development of China's flax textile industry. However, due to the slow growth of domestic flax fiber consumption, China has long relied on the international market. The investigation and study of the advanced management experience of European flax can provide a good reference for the improvement of China's flax production level. According to the actual situation of flax fiber industry in China, the following suggestions are put forward:

1. Effectively strengthen the management level of flax production enterprises and improve the quality awareness of enterprises, and improve the quality management system in many ways. Compared with the last century, the quality of hemp products and the quality management level in China have been greatly improved, which has played an important role in the leap forward development of industrial economy. However, compared with European countries, the basis for Chinese hemp enterprises to master and apply advanced quality management methods is still relatively weak, and there are still some problems that affect the popularization and application of advanced quality management methods. This is mainly reflected in the following aspects: some enterprises do not fully understand the importance of quality management to enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises, and the quality training and requirements for personnel in key positions are insufficient; The good atmosphere in which the whole society attaches importance to quality management needs to be further strengthened; Relevant technical service institutions lack basic and systematic research on the promotion of advanced quality management methods.

To solve these problems effectively, we must do the following work well: First, we must insist on taking enterprises as the main body, and give play to the role of intermediary organizations such as quality associations and hemp industry associations. It is necessary to give play to the guidance, coordination, service and supervision role of fiber inspection agencies in quality management, select and promote effective and applicable quality management methods abroad in combination with the characteristics of regions, industries and enterprises, vigorously promote and adhere to the application, constantly innovate and strive for practical results. Second, the fiber inspection department, together with the industry association and the quality association, should gradually establish an incentive system to improve the enthusiasm of enterprises to learn and practice advanced quality management methods; Guide enterprises to apply for quality awards, quality technology awards and other awards for the application of quality technology. The third is to carry out the hemp notarization and inspection work in depth, actively draw on the development trend of international standardization and advanced quality management, organize the development, publicity and promotion of advanced quality management standards, standardize the advanced quality management methods of hemp in time, and promote the advanced quality management methods by means of standardization.

2. Strengthen exchanges with European hemp enterprises, revise current national standards as soon as possible, and strive to be in line with international standards. China is the largest market of flax industry in Europe. The European Flax Hemp Federation has reached a cooperation agreement with the China Flax Textile Industry Association to hold regular flax industry summit meetings to jointly discuss and solve the problems encountered in the process of trade and development of the flax industry in Europe and China, and promote the sound development of both sides and mutual benefit. The delegation believed that to achieve the above goals, the top priority is to solve the problems in mutual recognition of standards. Taking flax as an example, the flax retting technology in China mainly adopts the warm water method, while in Europe, due to the abundant rain and sunshine, and the natural environment conditions are more conducive to the retting of original stems, they mostly adopt the rain and dew method. This makes the natural properties of flax fiber between China and Europe different. The existing flax product standard GB/T17345-2008 Flax Beating into Flax technical indicators are mainly based on the flax produced in Heilongjiang Province. In recent years, the planting area of flax in China tends to shrink, the number of domestic flax gradually decreases, and most of the raw materials required by production enterprises are from Europe, so the existing standard is not universal. In order to strengthen the trade of hemp products between China and Europe and reduce the trade disputes between the two parties, China urgently needs to develop a hemp fiber inspection standard that can establish its own reality and be in line with international standards. In the process of formulating standards, we should fully consider the similarities between China's hemp production technology and Europe's, as well as the differences in production technology between the two sides.

Through this visit and study, we have a comprehensive understanding of the current situation of European flax and fiber quality management and inspection technology. We believe that the domestic flax production is relatively advanced and reliable in performance and quality. The current advantages of European flax textile enterprises lie in technology and market, while the advantages of China lie in the quality and cost of production factors, There are more opportunities for cooperation than competition.

(Members of the delegation: Xu Shuibo and Cai Baojun from China Fiber Inspection Bureau; Liu Shuwen from Heilongjiang Fiber Inspection Bureau; Xing Qiuming from Zhejiang Huzhou Fiber Inspection Institute)