The provisional results of AHDB/HGCA’s annual Cereal Quality Survey 2014 show a general year-on-year improvement in GB wheat quality, leading to a positive outlook for this season’s export campaign.

For the 20,683 wheat samples analysed by 19 August, specific weights and Hagbergs are above average, although current results are showing a lower protein content compared with recent years. So far, samples are biased towards wheat harvested in the East and South East, and are not indicative of the whole GB crop.

Although the lower protein content is not ideal, it can be potentially corrected, at a cost, by adding gluten or blending with imported wheat to meet domestic requirements. It is much more difficult to compensate for low Hagbergs. Furthermore, GB wheat may still meet export customer requirements, despite the lower protein content.

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.”

For barley, the provisional Cereal Quality Survey results show a slight decline in quality compared with 2013.

Analysis of 9,382 barley samples revealed an average specific weight of 66.9 kg/hl, which is lower than in 2013 and similar to 2010’s final result. The nitrogen content, at present, is the lowest seen in recent years and the screening results are showing a smaller than average grain size. However, this year’s results are markedly better than the poor quality obtained in 2012.

The provisional results of the Cereal Quality Survey will be updated in late September, with the final results published in late October/early November.

Wheat

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 account for almost 40% of the total sample size, and so the survey is currently biased towards milling wheat and not indicative of the total wheat crop.

2012 is not included in the three-year average as adverse harvest conditions during that year led to particularly poor results, which skew the average.