HM Customs figures released by HGCA on Tuesday show UK wheat imports for 2012/13 are set to be at their highest for 35 years.

Concerns that this year's harvest will be delayed and the lower yields and poor quality of last season's harvest have combined to create an invidious position for UK wheat; imports have risen dramatically, while exports were slashed to a fraction of the previous season's levels, reaching their lowest ebb since 2002.  

At nearly 2.7 million tonnes, imports over the past year are double the quantities seen in over ten years (again, with 1.5 mt, 2001/02 comes closest to the soaring exports seen this year). Shipments of wheat entering the UK are almost three times as high as they were last season.   

Although wheat crops began the season almost a month later than usual, due to excessive rain and cool temperatures early on, development sped up thanks to more clement weather as the year progressed. Nevertheless, crops are still two weeks behind in some parts, and the UK has been slower than other Western European nations to recover from the effects the challenging start to the season.

After last year's harvest was cut dramatically following the wettest summer in a hundred years, UK wheat imports are thought to have outpaced exports in 2012. Experts have posited that the country could remain a net importer in 2013/14, due to the after-effects of the disastrous 2012 season.