Milling & Baking News - August 23, 2011 - 42

Ingredient Week 

Bakery Flour
Scattered bookings of bakery ﬂour for the fourth quarter and even January-March stood out last week. Volumes weren’t heavy. Prices advanced through midweek as wheat futures prices rallied, dropped on Thursday when futures buckled but then surged higher into the weekend. Millers pointed to continued inquiry about ﬁrst-quarter 2012 pricing. Flour suppliers attributed much of the inquiry to bakers whose ﬁscal year is the calendar year preparing budgets. The inquiry translated into a few bookings. Individual bakers expanded their October-December ownership. Activity in the fourth quarter involved all ﬂour grades but didn’t result in a large increase in aggregate coverage for the period. Millers indicated fourth-quarter coverage was around 40%. Commitments were higher when component coverage was considered. Some basis coverage was taken by pan bread bakers. Millfeed markets were down from recent highs but ﬁrmed last week and didn’t attract much baker component interest. With spring wheat futures in Minneapolis widening their premium to Kansas City futures, bakers increasingly considered ﬂour blends in which high-protein hard winter wheat was substituted for spring wheat. Flour grind was steady to lighter last week. Grind averaged 5½ days in the Southwest and 5½ to six in the Upper Midwest and Central states. Northeast grind fell to ﬁve to 5½ days, and

Southeast grind was about ﬁve. Paciﬁc Northwest mills ran six days as the wheat harvest gained momentum. California mills remained around ﬁve days. MBN

Family Flour
Sales of national and regional brands of family ﬂour began to increase seasonally. Carlot list prices were unchanged. The pace of orders quickened as grocers began to build inventory in advance of the kickoﬀ to the fall baking season. Some grocers and other outlets planned initial ads for the season to be unveiled in September. Manufacturers, too, were building inventory in warehouses in preparation for the baking season. One regional manufacturer said his mill started a second shift. Because wheat prices are high, trade activation programs weren’t expected to be very aggressive this fall. MBN

Semolina
Bookings of semolina, granulars and durum ﬂour proceeded at a steady but unhurried pace last week. Price changes were narrow. The price of choice milling hard amber durum quoted as a delivered Chicago/beyond value was $15 a bu, unchanged from the previous week but down $3 a bu from the beginning of July. The current Chicago price equated to a Minneapolis value of $14.70 a bu. The Canadian Wheat Board oﬀered

milling durum held in storage in Thunder Bay, Ont., at the equivalent of $15.25 a bu, also unchanged from the previous week. The recent drop in price of northern Plains durum discouraged eastern and Midwestern durum mills from drawing supply from the desert crop. Earlier, there were at least minor shipments from Arizona to some of these mills. Millers estimated October-December durum coverage at 75% to 80%. Ownership into 2012 was minor. The North Dakota durum harvest was just under way with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s ﬁeld oﬃce in that state indicating combining was 1% completed by Aug. 14 compared with 18% as the recent ﬁve-year average for the date. Thirty-ﬁve per cent of crop was turning color compared with 74% as the average. The Montana harvest was yet to begin. That state’s durum was 45% turning color by Aug. 14 compared with 81% as the average for the date. Montana’s durum was rated 74% good to excellent (compared with 69% a week earlier and 41% as the ﬁve-year average for the date), 20% fair and 6% poor to very poor. There were concerns progress in the harvest would be slow because of late plantings, and this raised the specter that an early frost may pose a threat. MBN

Bakers standard, Kansas City
Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
$26.00 $23.00 $20.00 $17.00 $14.00 $11.00 A N F Previous Year M Current Year

Bakery ﬂour
Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt Kansas City Bakers short patent Bakers standard patent Second clear Third clear Minneapolis Spring short patent Spring standard patent High gluten Whole wheat Specialty whole wheat Fancy spring clear First spring clear Rye, white Chicago Cracker Fancy cake New York Winter/spring blend Spring standard patent High gluten Fancy cake Rye, white Los Angeles Bakers standard patent Pastry — Change from — Year Aug. 19 Aug. 12 Aug. 5 ago 20.50 20.40 12.50 5.80 23.30 23.20 26.20 23.20 23.55 23.05 22.95 21.75 17.00 18.50 22.90 26.05 29.05 20.50 24.25 24.05 24.15 1.15 1.15 — — 2.30 2.30 2.30 2.30 2.30 2.30 2.30 -0.10 0.55 0.55 1.15 2.25 2.25 0.55 -0.10 -1.50 -0.70 1.70 1.70 — — 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 — 1.40 1.40 1.70 2.05 2.05 1.40 — -0.95 -0.15

No. 1 hard amber durum
Track, Minneapolis — Change from — Year $ per bu Aug. 19 Aug. 12 Aug. 5 ago Choice milling 13% 14.70 — -.65 6.45 cents per bu 17.45 Amber discount 10.00 — — 10.00 17.35 Durum discount 10@40 — — 10@40 12.50 Pufﬁng premium 0 — — 0 5.80

Spring standard, Minneapolis
Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
$33.00 $29.00

Semolina

18.35 18.25 21.25 18.25 18.60 18.10 18.00 15.35 17.20 18.70 19.85 20.85 23.85 20.70 17.85 19.90 20.35

Bulk, f.o.b. Minneapolis, $ per cwt — Change from — Aug. 19 Aug. 12 Aug. 5 Semolina 35.50 -.10 -1.60 Granulars 35.30 -.10 -1.60 Flour 35.20 -.10 -1.60 First clear 17.85 — — Second clear 12.50 — — Semolina - N.Y. 38.20 -.10 -1.60

Year ago 16.45 16.25 16.15 12.05 9.50 19.15

$25.00 $21.00 $17.00 $13.00 A N F Previous Year M Current Year

Cracker ﬂour, Chicago
Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
$22.00 $18.00 $14.00 $10.00 A N F Previous Year M Current Year

Nationally advertised family ﬂour
Dollars Aug. 19 Family patent, 2-25s papers 24.12 4-10s n.a. 8-5s 18.62 18-2s 20.64 Self-rising n.a. Year ago 22.50 18.25 18.40 21.76 +88c per bale

42 / August 23, 2011 Milling & Baking News

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Milling & Baking News - August 23, 2011

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