Milling wheat samples showing lower protein content: Grain market daily

• UK feed wheat futures (Nov-22) dropped £3.00/t over yesterday’s session, closing at £268.00/t. The Nov-23 contract, closed at £259.60/t, losing £0.40/t over the same period.
• UK futures tracked global prices as Paris milling wheat (Dec-22) fell €3.50/t yesterday, to close at €325.25/t.
• IKAR raised their Russian wheat harvest forecast yesterday to 97Mt, after harvest had already passed a record of 86Mt. This news outweighed concerns surrounding the Ukraine export deal, following comments made by the Kremlin (Refinitiv).
• The Paris rapeseed (Nov-22) contract fell €9.25/t over yesterday’s session, closing at €600.00/t. Global rapeseed prices are feeling pressure from losses in palm oil markets as well as improved planting conditions over the EU for the 2023 rapeseed crop.

The first provisional set of Cereal Quality Survey results for harvest 2022 are now available. 

Wheat

Provisional results from harvest 2022, using data to 30 August, suggest that milling wheat samples are displaying lower percentage protein content, but that specific weights and Hagberg Falling Numbers look high.

The average protein content of UK flour millers Group 1 varieties sits at 12.5%. This is below the milling specification of greater than or equal to 13%. The figure is down 0.7 percentage points (pp) from 2021 (at 13.2%), and lower than the 3-year average (2019-2021) of 13%. As commented on in recent harvest reports, lower protein levels are likely a result of limited nitrogen uptake due to hot and dry weather at the time of final application.

Average Hagberg Falling Numbers of group 1 wheats were at 346 seconds(s). This is 60s (21%) above 2021, and 37s (12.1%) above the 3-year average.   

The average specific weight of group 1 varieties is 81.8kg/hl, up 6.4kg/hl (8.4%) from last year’s average. Compared to the 3-year average, average specific weight for group 1 wheat is up 4.2kg/hl (5.5%). 

Overall, provisional results show that 31% of group 1 samples are meeting a typical group 1 specification (specific weight ≥ 76kg/hl, protein ≥ 13.0%, HFN ≥ 250s). This is up 11 percentage points from the 20% that met specification in the final 2021 results, and nearly in line with 2020 where 32% of group 1 samples met the specification requirements.

Additional specification

Looking at additional specification results, 73% of group 1 samples meet the following requirements: specific weight ≥ 74kg/hl, protein ≥ 12.0% and HFN ≥ 200. This is up from just 58% meeting this specification in 2021.

Note

This year’s wheat and barley sample sizes are down year-on-year (at 1,919 and 4,152 respectively) from final 2021 results. These results solely offer some insight into the 2022 crop quality.

Barley

While high fertiliser costs had caused concern over grain nitrogen levels, using data up to 30 August, provisional results show that average GB nitrogen content is 1.52%, the second highest since 2017. Barley with higher nitrogen content is in Eastern regions (averaging 1.62%), and the lowest was found in Scotland (averaging 1.41%), but this is expected as Scottish nitrogen content remains comparatively lower than English values due to requirements from distilling markets in Scotland.

Winter barley nitrogen content averaged 1.62%, up from 1.57% in last year’s results. Spring barley averaged 1.49%, up slightly from 1.48% in 2021.

Specific weights are also looking high, with the GB average at 67.3kg/hl. This is 3.5kg/hl (5.4%) higher than the 3-year average (2018-2021) and up 4.1kg/hl (6.5%) on final 2021 results.

The average proportion of barley retained by a 2.25mm sieve was 2.0%, up from 2021’s figure of 1.7%. The higher screenings were reported mainly in Northern and Eastern regions.

The average proportion of barley retained by a 2.5mm sieve was 93.4%. This is down from 94.9% in the previous season’s results and down from the 3-year average of 94.6%.

You can subscribe to receive Grain Market Daily straight to your inbox. Simply fill in your contact details on our online form and select the information you wish to receive.

While AHDB seeks to ensure that the information contained on this webpage is accurate at the time of publication, no warranty is given in respect of the information and data provided. You are responsible for how you use the information. To the maximum extent permitted by law, AHDB accepts no liability for loss, damage or injury howsoever caused or suffered (including that caused by negligence) directly or indirectly in relation to the information or data provided in this publication.

All intellectual property rights in the information and data on this webpage belong to or are licensed by AHDB. You are authorised to use such information for your internal business purposes only and you must not provide this information to any other third parties, including further publication of the information, or for commercial gain in any way whatsoever without the prior written permission of AHDB for each third party disclosure, publication or commercial arrangement. For more information, please see our Terms of Use and Privacy Notice or contact the Director of Corporate Affairs at info@ahdb.org.uk  © Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. All rights reserved.