July 18, 2013

 

UK wheat imports increase
 

 

For the first time since the 1970s, UK wheat imports defied expectations of an end-of-season slowdown to leave the country on course for purchases of close to full-season purchases of three million tonnes.

 

The UK, usually a sizeable net exporter of wheat, imported 298,416 tonnes of the grain in May, customs data showed.

 

The total was the second-highest of the 2012-13 marketing year, defying forecasts from farm officials of a decline in the pace of purchases as the season approached its finish at the end of last month.

 

Indeed, the imports took purchases for the first 11 months of the season to 2.68 million tonnes, ahead of the UK farm ministry forecast in May of buy-ins of 2.537 million tonnes for the whole of 2012-13.

 

The farm ministry estimate, when it was made, reflected expectations of imports falling back to average 140,000 tonnes a month in the April-to-June period. In fact, they have averaged nearly twice as much in April and May. Indeed, UK imports are now on pace to average 2.92 million tonnes for 2012-13, and are already the biggest since the 3.1 million tonnes bought in 35 years ago.

 

The strong pace of late purchases is seen as reflecting in part the prospect of a delayed harvest this year, increasing consumers' reliance on old crop supplies to tide them through. However, as Agrimoney.com has reported, buyers are also getting a taste for foreign supplies, and the greater consistency that can be obtained from imports.

 

"Ironically, this year, the UK crop is looking pretty good so far, and may produce a far, far better quality result than last year," one UK trader told Agrimoney.com.

 

Imports are proving particularly strong from Germany, a source of high protein milling grain, from which the UK purchased 130,564 tonnes of wheat in May, the highest figure since at least 1992. Imports from France were also strong, at 91,378 tonnes. From outside the EU, the UK imported nearly 31,000 tonnes of wheat from Canada.

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