Milling & Baking News - December 27, 2011 - 34

Ingredient Week 

Bakery Flour
Bookings of bakery flour were limited last week. Prices advanced. Advancing wheat futures prices kept whatever buying enthusiasm there may have been ahead of the holiday weekend well contained. But there was no sense of urgency in the market. Most bakers and other buyers were comfortable with first-quarter flour coverage as they left offices for the holidays. There was some component activity, though, that resulted in some completed contracts for January and FebruaryMarch. This activity was undertaken by bakers who earlier took positions in futures but held back from covering the basis and/or millfeed components of flour contracts. Basis activity was seen for all grades of flour. Pan bread bakers were prodded by indications the cash hard red spring wheat basis may have reached a bottom for awhile. Some spring grade users locked in basis positions for the first and even second quarters, but their approach was measured because they hoped after Jan. 1 spring wheat growers would liquidate additional supply that would pressure the spring wheat basis. Bread flour coverage (all of the components accounted for) for the first quarter was estimated at 60% to 65%. When individual components were considered, commitments to flour contracts for January-March were estimated at about 80% of the potential. Commitments to contracts were about 35% for April-June

and around 10% for July-September, according to one miller. Flour grind varied from three to seven days but averaged 4½ to 5½ days, somewhat heavier than expected. MBN

Family Flour
Sales of national and regional brands of family ﬂour were light last week. Carlot list prices were unchanged. Grocers in several areas featured family ﬂour in advertisements just ahead of Christmas in order to draw shoppers to stores and clear inventory. Martha White ﬂour was offered on some store shelves at around $1.79 per 5-lb bag, and in at least one market in the Southeast, private label ﬂour was offered at 10 bags for $10, the most aggressive marketing indicated during the season. During the baking season, store shelf offers of two 5-lb bags for $4 were fairly commonplace. In the marketplace for private label ﬂour, grocers and manufacturers were expected to resume discussions after the holidays about completing coverage through the crop year. MBN

Semolina
Bookings of semolina, granulars and durum ﬂour were light last week. Prices declined. Pasta manufacturers left ofﬁces for the long holiday weekend knowing they held comfortable semolina coverage for the ﬁrst quarter of 2012. No signiﬁcant business was transacted last week,

and coverage for January-March held at about 90% with second-quarter 2012 coverage at about 15%. The price of choice milling hard amber durum quoted as a delivered Chicago/ beyond value dropped 20c a bu and was at $12.30, which equated to a Minneapolis value of $12 a bu. Prices were down $5.70 a bu from their recent high in late June and compared with $9.40 a bu a year earlier. The Canadian Wheat Board offered milling durum held in storage in Thunder Bay, Ont., at the equivalent of $12.75 a bu, down 25c from the previous week and down $5.25 from the recent high of $18 a bu in early July. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Arizona ﬁeld ofﬁce indicated planting of small grains (including durum) was continuing. The California ﬁeld ofﬁce indicated wheat emergence was progressing with producers irrigating ﬁelds while awaiting precipitation. In view of this year’s small durum crop and strong prices, it was expected Arizona and California producers will seed an expanded area to durum in 2012. Area planted to durum in California and Arizona for harvest in 2011 was 200,000 acres compared with 185,000 acres in 2010 and 305,000 acres in 2009. MBN

Bakers standard, Kansas City
Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
$26.00 $23.00 $20.00 $17.00 $14.00 $11.00 D M J
Previous 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 Dec. 23 Dec. 16 Dec. 9 ago 17.50 17.40 12.50 5.80 21.10 21.00 24.00 21.00 21.35 20.85 20.75 20.15 14.15 15.65 19.90 23.15 26.15 17.65 22.65 21.60 20.05 1.25 1.25 — — 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 0.10 0.85 0.85 1.25 1.10 1.10 0.85 0.10 1.25 1.25 0.10 0.10 — — 0.80 0.80 0.80 0.80 0.80 0.80 0.80 0.10 0.45 0.45 0.10 0.60 0.60 0.45 0.10 0.10 0.10

No. 1 hard amber durum
Track, Minneapolis $ per bu Dec. 23 Choice milling 13% 12.00 cents per bu 19.45 Amber discount 10.00 19.35 Durum discount 10@40 12.50 Pufﬁng premium 0 5.80 — Change from — Year Dec. 16 Dec. 9 ago -.20 -.45 9.40 — — — — — — 10.00 10@40 0
S
Current Year

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

Semolina

21.30 21.20 24.20 21.20 21.55 21.05 20.95 18.50 18.10 19.60 21.85 23.50 26.50 21.60 21.00 22.15 20.40

Bulk, f.o.b. Minneapolis, $ per cwt — Change from — Dec. 23 Dec. 16 Dec. 9 Semolina 28.70 -.45 -1.10 Granulars 28.50 -.45 -1.10 Flour 28.40 -.45 -1.10 First clear 19.10 — — Second clear 13.00 — — Semolina - N.Y. 31.40 -.45 -1.10

Year ago 22.35 22.15 22.05 13.60 11.00 25.05

$25.00 $21.00 $17.00 $13.00 D M J
Previous Year

S
Current Year

Nationally advertised family ﬂour
Dollars Dec. 23 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

Cracker ﬂour, Chicago
Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
$22.00 $18.00 $14.00 $10.00 D M J
Previous Year

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Current Year

34 / December 27, 2011 Milling & Baking News

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Milling & Baking News - December 27, 2011

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