Milling & Baking News - February 4, 2014 - 34

Ingredient Week 

Bakery Flour
Bookings of bakery flour expanded
last week. Price changes were mixed.
Wheat futures prices declining in
some instances to 3½-year lows encouraged several buyers of all flour grades to
cover at least the futures component of
prospective flour contracts for the second, third and, in some cases, even the
fourth quarter of 2014. The activity in futures allowed some bakers to complete
flour contracts for March and April-June.
In addition to the coverage of futures,
there was some flat pricing of flour contracts for the second quarter by bakers
who saw prices fall to or below their target levels for coverage.
Cookie-cracker and specialty bakers
seemed to have more extensive coverage than bread bakers. One miller indicated his soft flour users already covered
about 70% of their needs for the second
quarter. Coverage beyond June, though,
remained limited at about 10%.
Bread bakers' flour coverage for the
current quarter was about 80% with
second-quarter coverage (with all components accounted for) at about 35%.
Strong cash wheat premiums continued to discourage a more aggressive
stance among bakers. The cash hard
winter wheat basis remained historically
strong as did cash premiums on hard red
spring wheat, despite recent downward
adjustments in the latter market. Ongoing rail logistical problems underpinned
the hard wheat markets. In the case of
soft red winter wheat, the chief problem

Bakery ﬂour

Family Flour
Sales of regional and national brands
of family flour were routine last week.
Carlot list prices were unchanged.
Shipments began to increase as grocers
finished working down inventories left over
from the winter holidays. But new sales
were light. No significant pick-up in sales
was expected until closer to Easter, and with
the later date of that holiday this year, it was
expected sales to satisfy the holiday demand
will begin later than usual as well.
In the market for private label, most
buyers earlier covered most if not all
of their flour needs through old crop.
Buyers seemed content to hold back
on coverage beyond May or June until
prospects for the new crop become more
certain. MBN

Semolina
Bookings of semolina, granulars and
durum flour were limited last week.
Prices advanced.
The price of choice milling hard
amber durum at the Chicago gateway

was $10.25 a bu, unchanged from the
previous week. The Minneapolis price
was $9.95 a bu. With durum prices
unchanged, the advance in semolina
pricing was tied to a drop in Upper
Midwest millfeed values.
The North American durum supply
was ample, given the record Canadian
crop, but rail logistics remained
problematic, and it was difficult to "get
wheels" under the supply to come to the
relief of durum mills. At the same time,
one miller noted a slight improvement in
durum movement. Lagging shipments
of contracted supply resulted in some
double-buying by some mills that
gobbled up whatever durum was offered
on the spot market. With shipments still
delayed, there was as yet no penalty to
pay for double buying.
Pasta manufacturers earlier covered
virtually all of their semolina requirements
for the first quarter, and coverage in the
second quarter of 2014 was estimated at
60% to 70%.
There was a wide inverse in the cash
durum market with March-April supply
offered about 50c a bu lower than the
nearby.
Durum mill grind was strong at
around six days with some units
planning to run seven days in the next
week. MBN

Bakers standard, Kansas City
Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
$23.00
$21.00
$19.00

No. 1 hard amber durum

Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
Jan. 31
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

was quality. Mills across the eastern Corn
Belt, the East and Southeast increasingly
encountered difficulties buying wheat
with the quality required to meet baker
specifications. One miller said his mills
were forced to reject several truckloads
in the past couple of weeks. The price
mills in these areas had to pay for quality supply often was sharply higher than
posted bids at regional elevators and
even at the mills themselves. MBN

- Change from - Year
Jan. 24 Jan. 17 ago

Track, Chicago
$ per bu
Jan. 31
Choice milling 13% 10.25

- Change from - Year
Jan. 24 Jan. 17 ago
-
-
9.80

0.40
0.40
-
...

0.20
0.20
-
...

20.20
20.10
14.00
...

Track, Minneapolis
$ per bu

20.65
20.55
23.55
20.55
20.90
20.40
20.30
23.55

0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.40

-1.95
-1.95
-1.95
-1.95
-1.95
-1.95
-1.95
0.30

19.60
19.50
22.50
19.50
19.85
19.35
19.25
21.25

Bulk, f.o.b. Minneapolis, $ per cwt
- Change from -
Jan. 31
Jan. 24 Jan. 17
Semolina
24.65
+.10
+.05
Granulars
24.45
+.10
+.05
Flour
24.35
+.10
+.05
First clear
17.55
-
-
Second clear 13.50
-
-
Semolina - N.Y. 27.35
+.10
+.05

14.65
16.15

-0.05
-0.05

-0.25
-0.25

16.85
18.35

20.85
22.95
25.95
18.15
26.05

0.40
0.35
0.35
-0.05
0.40

0.20
-2.00
-2.00
-0.25
0.30

22.60
22.85
25.85
20.35
23.75

23.75
23.60

0.40
0.40

0.20
0.20

25.65
25.10

34 / February 4, 2014 Milling & Baking News

$15.00
F

A
Previous Year

18.45
18.35
14.00
...

Choice milling 13% 9.95

$17.00

N
Current Year

Spring standard, Minneapolis
-

+.25

10.00

Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
$25.00

Semolina

$23.00

Year
ago
22.50
22.30
22.20
17.50
13.00
25.20

Nationally advertised family ﬂour

$21.00
$19.00
$17.00
$15.00
F

A
Previous Year

N
Current Year

Cracker ﬂour, Chicago
Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
$22.00

Dollars
Jan. 31
Family patent, 2-25s papers 24.12
4-10s
n.a.
8-5s
18.52
18-2s
20.64
Self-rising
n.a.

$20.00

Year ago
24.12
n.a.
18.52
20.64
n.a.

$18.00
$16.00
$14.00
$12.00
F

A
Previous Year

N
Current Year

bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com

Milling & Baking News - February 4, 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Milling & Baking News - February 4, 2014