UK has recorded a wheat harvest of 17.5 million tonnes, up 32 percent on-year, according to results from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). 

The increase was attributed to a record yield of 8.4 tonnes per hectare, combined with a 13-percent increase in wheat area to 2.1 million hectares. Excellent planting conditions in last year's autumn, as well as strong grain prices have led to higher wheat acreage.

Wheat harvest earlier were of good quality, though heavy rain during the later harvest affected the quality and incurred drying costs, said Defra.

The bulk of the wheat will be used for animal feed, while 6.5 million tonnes will be used for food. Farmers will be expecting at least GBP 110 per tonne for milling wheat and GBP 80 per tonne for feed grain.

The best milling wheat fetches GBP 140 per tonne but the heavy moisture in this year's wheat crop reduced protein levels and subsequently lowered prices.