Viscount Set To Take Lion's Share Of Premium Soft Wheat Market

“With sufficient seed production in the ground to ensure an 18% UK market share, Viscount will take a large chunk of next autumn’s 4mt export and 0.7mt distilling sector,” predicts commercial director, Andrew Newby.

As the UK’s premium soft wheat - backed by a yield that is only 2% behind leading hard feed wheat, Oakley and some 3% ahead of Alchemy - Viscount will secure added-value markets for those close to ports that supply European millers.

“BCE confirm that Viscount sits within the quality range required for uks branding and as such is acceptable for use in European soft wheat grists.  Tests show that Portuguese and Spanish millers are confident it meets their needs.”

Furthermore, north of the border, Mr Newby is confident that Viscount will prove to be a more agronomically stable replacement for older soft wheats such as Robigus and Alchemy. 

“It is one of the highest yielding wheats in the North and has a large bold, bright grain giving high alcohol extraction in SWRI distilling trials,” he says.

While acknowledging that the jury is out in terms of its biscuit-making acceptability – the variety needs another year’s trials to confirm this potential - KWS UK describe this as a limited market.

“The UK only requires around 0.5mt of soft wheats for biscuits, this is around 3% of our national wheat need,” says Mr Newby.  “This can easily be satisfied by other soft wheats such as current market leader Robigus, as well as newly Recommended Scout. 

“Growers will be quick to grasp the fact that while Viscount has provisionally fallen into a Group 4 category, as a premium soft wheat it is the right selection for uks exports, distilling and bio-ethanol production,” he suggests.