A cereal survey has revealed a year-on-year improvement in Britain’s wheat quality.
AHDB/HGCA’s annual Cereal Quality Survey 2014 has prompted a positive outlook for next season’s export campaign.
It found that of 20,683 wheat samples analysed by 19 August, specific weights and Hagbergs were above average, however protein content was down.
Despite this, the company says the protein content could be corrected at a cost by adding gluten, or blending it with imported wheat.
Amandeep Kaur Purewal, AHDB/HGCA senior analyst, said: “Although other key EU wheat producers are expecting large crops, wet weather has caused concerns for quality and consequently we are expecting a large surplus of feed wheat in the EU. A good-quality wheat crop could provide Great Britain with a competitive edge, after an absence of two seasons from the export market.
“We do expect these provisional results to change as later-harvested samples are analysed, and any changes in the weather may also impact the final results. Nevertheless, so far, the provisional results look promising.”
The majority of wheat samples are from the east and south-east, accounting for 53% and 22% of the total sample size, respectively.
Nabim Group 1 varieties of wheat account for almost 40% of the total sample size, so the survey is currently biased towards milling wheat and not indicative of the total wheat crop.
The approximate weight range of wheat for 2014 is 73 - 84 kg/hl.
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