The UK has a large level of exportable surplus this season, especially in wheat, according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).

The focus is now turning to see if this large surplus can be moved to prevent large carry-out stocks.

The AHDB looked at revenue and customs data, which showed that from July to January, the UK exported approximately 735,800t of wheat.

It also reported that this is over 2.5 times the volume that was shipped by the same time in 2021/2022. Indeed, it is the largest volume exported since 2019/2020.

The AHDB reported that the pace has been picking up over recent months, with 159,500t of wheat having been exported over last January. This was the largest monthly volume shipped since October 2019.

The January UK cereal Supply and Demand estimates showed that full-season wheat exports were estimated at 1.15m tonnes.

This means about 414,000t need to be exported from February to June to meet the forecast. That’s approximately 83,000t per month for the remainder of the season.

Exports to the EU

The EU Commission's data shows that the EU has imported 1.047m tonnes of common wheat from the UK up to 13 March.

From January 2022 to December 2022, 137,882t of wheat were imported into the Republic of Ireland from Great Britain, and 32,882t of wheat were imported from Northern Ireland.