Ipswich Grain Terminal is gearing up for its 20 millionth tonne of cargo this summer.
More than 450 lorryloads of feed wheat grown in East Anglia headed out to Spain earlier this month as part of an ongoing and thriving export trade into Europe.
Grain merchant Nidera handles about 25% of the UK’s annual wheat exports, and sometimes more, from the ports of Ipswich and Harwich, making them key sites for the trade.
The latest 13,000 metric tonne load, from Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex farms would be heading out to North Spain on the vessel Arklow Moor around 10 days ago.
Tom Barker, a farm trader based at Nidera in Ipswich, said: “The vessel will only take two to three days to reach its destination on the North coast of Spain, and we will have another vessel arriving shortly to continue our export programme for this season.”
The UK has the potential to export more than 2.5 million tonnes of wheat before the end of the marketing season in July.
“The Ipswich Grain Terminal provides excellent logistics for loading vessels which means that the team at Nidera are able to both meet the needs of their customers as well as offering prompt movement of grain from farms,” explained Tom.
“We can load vessels promptly at Ipswich Grain Terminal with our daily intake capacity of up to 10,000 metric tonnes, and as we own our own haulage fleet of over 40 lorries we can move grain quickly from farm, to port and then to end-consumer overseas in a very short space of time.
“We have an excellent trading relationship with our Spanish office as the UK has historically been a large supplier of wheat of all qualities to Spain as their own domestic production cannot meet the local demands for quantity and quality.
“We will continue to make sales for the remainder of this season and for the crop to be harvested later this year so that we carry on in creating the best marketing opportunities for East Anglian farmers and meet their logistical needs.”
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