UK: Lowest English cereals and OSR area in over four decades

Sign up to receive the Weekly Market Report and Grain Market Daily from AHDB. This morning, Defra released its provisional estimates for the cereals and oilseed rape (OSR) areas in England on 1 June 2024. The cereals (wheat, barley, oats) and OSR area for England is notably lower this year at 2,649 Kha, making it the lowest area since at least 1983. The extremely difficult planting conditions, as a result of record rainfall, played a considerable role. The areas for wheat, winter barley and oilseed rape are estimated down by 11%, 17% and 27% respectively. These falls are only partly offset by the areas of spring barley and oats, which are estimated to increase on the year by 28% and 11% respectively. While we don’t yet have official area statistics for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, these Defra statistics show a similar pattern to AHDB’s 2024 Planting and Variety Survey (PVS). Analysis of the PVS pointed to a tight domestic wheat supply in the 2024/25 marketing year. ...