HM Revenue and Customs end-season figures for the UK cereal and oilseed trade in 2007/08 show a decline in exports compared to the previous season, which is in line with the overall lower grain output in 2007. In contrast, combined UK imports of cereals and oilseeds were higher in 2007/08.

UK Cereal Trade

Exports - Total UK wheat exports in ‘07/08 were reported at 1.5Mt. This compares to 2.15Mt exported in ‘06/07 and reflects last year’s lower wheat crop of 13.2Mt compared to 14.7Mt in ‘06. The majority of the wheat exports were shipped to other EU member states with only a small amount sold to non-EU countries (Table 1).

The major destinations of UK wheat exports in ‘07/08 have been similar to previous seasons with Spain as the main importer, taking delivery of 0.45Mt of UK wheat. Other key export destinations included Ireland (0.2Mt), Portugal (0.19Mt) and The Netherlands (0.18Mt). The most significant non-EU buyers of UK wheat exports were Morocco and Tunisia.

UK barley exports in ‘07/08 were 0.13Mt lower at 0.4Mt, mirroring the slightly lower ‘07 crop of 5.12Mt (5.2Mt in ‘06). Major EU destinations included Germany (0.11Mt), The Netherlands (0.84Mt) and Denmark (0.36Mt). A total of 0.43Mt was shipped to non-EU state including Tunisia (0.19Mt) and Norway (7,700t).

An increase in oat exports was seen, with the total 20,000t higher in ‘07/08 at around 72,000t. Around 66,000t was exported to other EU countries with key destinations including Spain (33,500t), Ireland (8,800t) and Belgium (8.600t). Non-EU oat exports reached around 6,000t with Norway the main destination.

Imports - UK wheat imports for ‘07/08 totalled 1.44Mt, a substantial increase of 0.47Mt from the previous season’s import estimates. Imports from other EU states totalled 0.72Mt (0.52Mt in ‘06/07), and a larger than usual percentage of wheat imports 0.72Mt (0.45Mt) was imported from non-EU countries this season. The majority of wheat imports were sourced from Canada (0.47Mt), while some 0.38Mt was imported from Germany, indicating that more high quality wheat needed to be imported. Some 0.17Mt were imported from France and 71,000t from Ireland.

Maize imports increased slightly in ‘07/08 to 1.29Mt, up 0.11Mt from the previous season. The majority was sourced from France (0.53Mt), and a larger share than usual was bought from Brazil (0.45Mt) and Argentina (0.17Mt). Meanwhile, barley imports at 0.1Mt were below last season’s 0.11Mt, while imports of oats increased to 72,000t last season (mainly from Finland, Sweden and Ireland). Unlike previous seasons, the UK imported a significant amount of sorghum in '07/08, as compounders seeked to buy competitively priced alternatives to wheat and barley. Imports rose from just 5,400t in '06/07 to over 0.15Mt in '07/08 with some 90,000t sourced from the US (Table 2).

UK Oilseeds Trade

Imports - Total imports of rapeseed and palm nuts declined in ‘07/08 compared to the previous season while soyabean and sunseed imports increased. Overall imports of the main cakes and meals were slightly higher and with the exception of soya oil, imports of the main vegetable oils also increased (Table 3).

Rapeseed imports totalled 72,000t in ‘07/08, compared to more than 0.12Mt in ‘06/07. The majority of the imports came from Germany (56,000t) with smaller amounts being imported from Ireland, the Netherlands and France.

Soyabean imports were higher compared to the previous season at 0.87Mt (0.78Mt in ‘06/07). Brazil supplied 0.58Mt – by far the majority of UK soyabean imports, while 0.1Mt were sourced from Switzerland, as well as 83,000t from the Netherlands, and 44,000t from Canada. Imports of sunseeds more than doubled to 85,000t (40,000t in ‘06/07), with China and Latvia the main suppliers.

UK imports of rape oil decreased by 41,000t to 64,000t in ‘07/08, with the majority coming from the Netherlands and Belgium. Soya oil imports were also lower, falling by 52,000t to 0.23Mt, mostly shipped from the Netherlands, Argentina and Belgium. Palm oil imports fell by around 16,000t to 39,000t in ‘07/08, with Indonesia the main source of origin. Imports of palm nut / kernels fell to 39,000t (55,000t in ‘06/07), of which 0.33Mt was supplied by Indonesia and 0.13Mt by Malaysia. Sun oil imports were slightly higher at 0.3Mt in ‘07/08 (0.24Mt), the majority being imported from France, the Netherlands, Germany and Ukraine.

Exports - UK rapeseed exports totalled 0.24Mt in ‘07/08, up 21,000t on the previous season (Table 4). The majority was exported to the Netherlands (87,000t), France (61,000t), Germany (49,000t) and Denmark (23,000t) with only a nominal amount going to non-EU states. Rapeseed cake exports from the UK also increased, reaching a total of 0.24Mt in ‘07/08. This was echoed with UK rape oil exports which increased by around 0.1Mt to 0.38Mt last season. Germany (0.15Mt), the Netherlands (94,000t) and Belgium (55,000t) were the main EU destinations with Norway (36,000t) the main non-EU destination.

Concluding Remarks

UK cereal exports were lower and imports were higher in ‘07/08 when compared with the previous season, generally reflecting the lower crop harvested in 2007. With regards to rapeseed, last year’s record output lowered imports to 72,000t and lifted exports to nearly 0.24Mt. With the exception of sun oil, vegetable oil imports were lower compared with ‘06/07, reflecting the increase in domestic production, the strengthening of the pound against the dollar and record vegetable oil prices.