May 18, 2011

Wheat exports from UK continue to decrease

UK wheat exports slowed further in March to 100,673 tonnes, the lowest monthly total so far in the 2010-11 season.

Cumulative wheat exports for the season to date, however, stood at 2.34 million tonnes, still up by more than one-third from 1.73 million in the same period a year earlier.

A slowdown in exports had been anticipated with strong sales in the early part of the season helping to tighten supplies in the second half of the crop year.

Top markets in March were the Netherlands (27,373 tonnes) and France (20,863 tonnes).

The Netherlands has been the most important customer for UK wheat this season with cumulative shipments of 582,694 tonnes, up from 187,148 tonnes in the same period a year earlier.

Shipments to Spain, the largest buyer of UK wheat in recent years, slumped to just 9,169 tonnes to bring the season-to-date total to 558,764 tonnes, down from 954,201 tonnes in the same period in the 2009-10 season.

Exports to customers outside the EU totalled 8,325 tonnes in March including 7,013 tonnes to Turkey.

For the season-to-date, exports outside the EU have risen sharply to 293,925 tonnes versus 84,099 tonnes in the same period in 2009-10.

A drought in Russia has helped to open up many new markets for British wheat this season and customers have included Algeria, Thailand, Tunisia and Vietnam, none of which bought UK grain in 2009-10.