U.K. wheat output to swing higher in 2025/26

Wheat production in the United Kingdom is forecast to turn around in 2025/26 after falling back the previous year, the United States Department of Agriculture reported on June 9.

The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service issued the report from its attaché in London. In writing the report for the Global Agricultural Information Network, the attaché projected the forthcoming U.K. wheat crop to reach 12.80 million tonnes. That would be an improvement of almost 17 per cent over the 2024/25 harvest, but still short of the 13.98 million tonnes gleaned in 2023/24.

The London desk cited lower yields, less planted area, reduced demand and profitability concerns for the drop in wheat in 2024/25.

The attaché estimated harvest area to increase to 1.63 million hectares from 1.53 million in 2024/25, but lower than the 1.72 million combined two years earlier.

The London desk also wrote U.K. wheat imports are to drop 26 per cent at 3.05 million tonnes in the approaching crop year. The U.K. will export about 560,000 tonnes, up from 440,000 last year.

Total consumption was projected to come in at 15.35 million tonnes compared to 14.40 million last year. However at 3.44 million tonnes, ending stocks are expected to change little from the 3.50 million in 2024/25.

The U.K. is to rank 15th in 2025/26 among wheat producing countries, according to the USDA.

Tags: Production, wheat, yields, imports, United Kingdom, consumption, demand, planted area, ending stocks