UK wheat exports
The UK will become a net importer of wheat in 2012/13 for the first time in more than 10 years.
This is in stark contrast to 2011’s harvest, which was exported around the world.
A large proportion of UK wheat exports go for milling uses and overseas milling customers have different quality requirements to those in the UK.
Overseas buyers often found the UK’s wheat classification system confusing so British Cereal Exports, a division of the HGCA, developed the ukp and uks export brands (see table below) to help establish and maintain export markets.
The brands are now well known in the UK’s key markets and demand is strong, particularly for uks, says BCE. Varieties that are likely to meet ukp and uks requirements are marked in HGCA’s Recommended List to help growers make variety choices.
Lloyd Dixon, cerals analyst at AHDB said: “Due to low yields in 2012, the knock-on impacts on production and quality issues, the UK is expected to be a net importer of wheat in 2012-13.
“The last time the UK was a net importer was 2001-02 and the situation in 2012-13 is seen to be an extreme rather than the norm.”
What the export market wants
“As far as export specifications go, everything has a price,” said Mr Dixon.
“If UK wheat is competitive at a certain specification, whether that be for feed wheat, biscuit wheat or milling wheat, or anything in between, then there are potential export destinations.”
For more on this topic
See our interactive graphic of UK agricultural exports