October 6, 2010

UK wheat harvest rises due to higher sowings

The UK's wheat harvest increased this year at 14.8 million tonnes, 5.4% higher than last year as higher sowings made up for a drop in yields, according to farm ministry data.

The increase, which makes the country the only one of Europe's major wheat producers to have lifted production this year, came despite a dry spring, which had held back crops in France and had raised concerns for the UK's too.

However, yields turned out at 7.7 tonnes per hectare, only 0.2 tonnes per hectare lower than last year's, which was too little to negate the impact of a rise in plantings.

The ministry said that the rise in output stemmed from improved planting conditions in autumn 2009 and better cereal prices.

The production figure was in line with that estimated on Friday by the National Farmers Union, following a survey of growers, but nearly 300,000 tonnes higher than a figure from Brussels-based lobby group Coceral a week before.

Coceral said the overall EU wheat harvest, to which the UK was the third-biggest contributor, fell by 20 million tonnes to 273 million tonnes.

Rapeseed harvest hit a record 2.24 million tonnes, boosted by a record yield of 3.5 tonnes per hectare, and a rise in sowings to historically high levels.

Ian Backhouse, the NFU's head of combinable crops, said last week that growers' increasing reliance on rapeseed indicates that the crop remains the main break crop of choice on farm, due to the limited choice for farmers for other profitable break crops.

London feed wheat prices remained unmoved by the crop data, with the near-term November lot up 0.3% at GBP149.45 (US$237.53) a tonne. Chicago and Paris wheat also showed small rises.