Initial figures show crops increased by 3.5 per cent to 6.152 million tonnes when compared with the 2008 harvest (5.9 million tones).

But high dry matter, poor skin finish and excessive bruising, caused by the dry conditions during the 2009 harvest, are expected to result in an increase in wastage throughout the year.

The council found that average yields per hectare were 47.2 t/ha, up 3.3 per cent on 2008.

There was also little increase in the crop area farmed with a total of 130,231ha used.