Defra figures for cereal stocks in England and Wales published today, 9 May, show a drop of stocks of wheat on farm and a rise in imported grain held at ports and merchant stores.

Own-grown wheat stocks on farms in England and Wales fell by 10% from February 2012 to a similar level seen in 2011 of 3.5 million tonnes (figure 1). This is in line with the decrease of 13% in the tonnage of wheat produced in the 2012 UK harvest. As a proportion of production, wheat stocks still on farms in February 2013 (28%) have remained similar to 2012 (27%). It is thought that a lot of the wheat still on farms is being kept back for animal feed due to the poor quality. Regionally the largest proportions of production still on the farm were 39% in the East Midlands and 29% in the East of England. These two regions also produced the largest tonnages of wheat with 19% of total production in England and Wales coming from the East Midlands and 30% from the East of England.

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Stocks of own-grown barley on farms increase d by 15% from February 2012 to 616 thousand tonnes. Barley production in England and Wales also increased in 2012, though to a lesser extent (3% to 3.7 million tonnes).  As a proportion of the total production, 17% of barley was still on farms in February 2 013 compared to 15% at the same time in 2012. A relatively large proportion of barley is grown for feeding livestock on the farm. There is expected to be a small increase in the amount of barley grain fed to livestock on farms this year.  On a regional basis the highest tonnage (859 thousand tonnes) of stocks still on farms in February 2013 was in the East of England. T he highest proportion (35%) of the 2012 regional barley production still on farms in February 2013 was in the East Midlands.  

135% increase in imported grain.

There was a notable  135% increase in the amount of stocks of imported wheat held at ports,  co-ops and merchants at 274 thousand tonnes at February 2013 compared to 117 thousand tonnes for the previous February. This is consistent with increased demand for higher quality wheat for milling due to the poor quality of the 2012 UK wheat crop. The amount of home grown wheat was down 15%. For barley, UK production in 2012 was slightly higher than in 2011 but the quality has been reasonable, not impacted by the weather to the same extent as wheat. Stocks of home grown barley held at ports, co-ops and merchants were 777 thousand tonnes at February 2013, up 4.5% on February 2012. The tonnage of imported maize held at ports, co-ops and merchants also increased 25% to 99 thousand tonnes at February 2013 compared to the previous February.

There has been greater demand for use of maize in compound feed rations, replacing wheat, due to favourable quality and price comparisons. Imports of maize have been higher during 2012/13 which would explain the higher stocks of imported maize. The stocks of home grown maize remain small; the amount of grain maize grown in the UK is very limited.