UK wheat exports slump to 1979 levels as rainfall hurts production

UK wheat exports probably will be the smallest since 1979 this season after soggy weather hurt production, while improving prospects for the next harvest mean shipments may rebound next year, the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board said.

Exports of wheat may plunge to 450,000 metric tons in the 2013-14 season that ends June 30, down 39% from the previous year, according to Department for Environment, Food and &Rural Affairs data.

Shipments haven’t been that low in about 35 years, said Charlotte Garbutt, board market specialist manager.

UK wheat production fell to a 12-year low of 11.9m tons in 2013-14 as farmers reduced planting of winter crops after fields had too much rain, department data show. Output probably will increase when the 2014-15 crop is harvested, starting in July, Garbutt said.

Planting of the 2014-15 winter wheat crop, which took place last autumn, totalled 1.93m hectares (4.77mn acres) at the beginning of December, 19% higher than a year earlier, the board said in March.

“We had a very low wheat production number, so we anticipated we wouldn’t have very much surplus” to export in 2013-14, Garbutt said.