Scotch whisky may prove a little less Scottish thanks to poor weather which has cut hopes for the domestic malting barley harvest, leaving distillers to turn, unusually, to foreign supplies.

Prospects for the UK spring barley harvest look "anything but promising" thanks to rains which in July came in at more than double typical levels, following unusually wet weather in May and June too, RMI Analytics said.

"The conditions in the UK are really not good," the malting barley consultancy said.

"The almost permanent rain showers of the previous weeks or almost months put significant decease pressure on the plants.

"The problems are visible for everyone and we have to assume that the kernels will be affected by various types of fungal infestations."

Shrunken surplus

The setback has left the UK, which typically has an exportable surplus of 150,000-200,000 tonnes, looking at excess supplies seen at best at 80,000 tonnes, and potentially with insufficient domestic supplies to cover the needs of distillers and brewers, RMI said.

More will be known after the start of harvesting, expected begin in a week or so by consultancy Adas.

"Some companies are buying back export commitments because they believe there will not be as much material for exports as they had thought," RMI's Matthias Wree told Agrimoney.com.

Nonetheless, with exports from the south of England still expected at 50,000 tonnes or more, "the north of England and Scotland will rely on imports of Scandinavia of at least 30,000 tonnes".

Danish Scotch?

Mr Wree said: "The UK usually finds a solution to its malting barley supplies internally, even if it means pulling supplies to Scotland from East Anglia.

"But this time is looks like there may not be enough, meaning Scotland may have to turn to Danish origin.

"At least by the time it comes to drink the whisky in 12 years' time, people will have forgotten where the raw material came from."

A spokesperson for the Scottish Whisky Association said that distillers "wherever possible" use Scottish malting barley, occasionally taking supplies from northern England.

"I could not say we have never importers, but it would certainly be very rare," the spokesperson said.