Britain's grain shippers will find it hard to place wheat and barley in traditional export markets such as Spain, Italy and Portugal this year unless quality is up to scratch, the UK's Home-Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA) said on Wednesday.
Heavier crops in importing countries and the prospect of bigger sales from countries around the Black Sea might also mean slower UK sales, it added.
"Spain and Portugal are major importers of wheat, but the UK is facing even more competition - much will depend on the quality and quantity available," HGCA spokeswoman Emma Jackson said in a statement.
France, the largest grain exporter in the EU, will continue to be the UK's main competitor in attempting to lift sales of group 2 wheat, a good quality milling variety, into foreign ports, Jackson said.
But the HGCA said meetings with potential buyers of UK grain showed that importers in Portugal and Spain were willing to look at UK group 3 wheat, widely used in some blends and popular with millers.
"There is less competition in the market for these wheat and the UK has an established position...but the quantity they import will depend on this year's quality and price," the HGCA said.
Damp and cool weather over recent weeks has raised concerns that UK wheat quality will fall this year, although analysts expect an average year overall, with variable results seen on a mainly regional basis.
UK growers are expecting to harvest at least 15.8 million tonnes of wheat in 2004, sharply up from 14.3 million last year and enough to produce an exportable wheat surplus in excess of three million tonnes.
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