UK wheat production in 2013 may hit 12-year low

2013-12-21 Developments

2013-12-20 09:28 China Grain Network
london, December 19 news: according to British government officials, this year's British wheat production is expected to be less than 12 million tons, which is the first time in 12 years, but also lower than market expectations, due to unfavorable sowing conditions.

The UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) revised down its wheat production figures for this year by 200000 tonnes to 11.9 million tonnes. Britain is the EU's third-largest wheat producer, behind France and Germany.

The UK wheat yield data was revised down because of poor autumn sowing conditions and even lower wheat acreage than earlier expected. This year's wheat production will be the lowest since 2001, when it was 11.58 million tons.

The weather continued to rain during the autumn sowing period in 2012, and the rainfall was the second highest level in history, resulting in the deterioration of wheat quality. Farmers were busy with field work and could not prepare for this year's wheat crop.

According to DEFRA, the downward revision of the wheat yield data reflects poor sowing conditions during the winter, resulting in a 19 per cent reduction in sown area. DEFRA revised the wheat sown area data downward by 11000 ha to 1.62 million ha.

Wheat, winter barley and rapeseed yields were hurt by poor winter and spring weather.

At the same time, DEFRA also lowered the UK barley, oat and rapeseed production data, but the decline was smaller, also because of the decline in planting area.

The average rapeseed yield is expected to be 3.0 t/ha, the lowest in nine years, as the proportion of area sown in spring has increased, while the yield of spring-sown rapeseed is lower than that of autumn-sown rapeseed.

Poor weather during winter rapeseed planting, followed by rainy weather in winter, adversely affected yields. In addition, during the spring sowing period, farmers planted rapeseed varieties with low yields, which also led to a decline in overall yields.
This article is reproduced from: China Grain Network