Milling & Baking News - February 27, 2007 - 1

Theinewsweeklyiofigrain-basedifoods

BREAD

product

FEBRUARY 27, 2007

bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

perspective

BREAD

product

perspective

The new breed of bread
Rising interest in whole grains drives new bread varieties and categories

ven as the number of loaves of fresh bread sold during
2006 declined from the prior year, the industry's leading
bread bakers generated improved year-overyear dollar sales growth. Boosted by product mix
shifts toward varieties that command a higher price
as well as by general price advances, the bread category experienced a number of positive trends over
the past year.
In the 52-week period ended Dec. 31, 2006, the fresh
bread category generated sales of $5,920,148,000, up
1.2% from the same year-ago period, according to
Information Resources, Inc. The gain came despite a

3.7% decline in unit sales to 3,152,084,000, I.R.I. noted.
Interstate Bakeries Corp. sustained a 9.7% drop in fresh
bread sales to $663,238,700, a decline consistent with the Kansas City-based company's
reported financial results and a reflection of
its cost-cutting initiatives associated with efforts to emerge from bankruptcy. I.B.C. notwithstanding, the other top bread bakers
experienced sales growth during 2006, most
notably La Brea Bakery and United States
Bakeries, which saw dollar sales rise 17.8%
Continued on Page 29

Flour production in 2006 gains
0.6% reaching five-year peak
WASHINGTON - Production of wheat
flour by U.S. mills in 2006 increased
0.6% from 2005 to the largest total since
2001, according to data issued by the
Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Output for the past
year amounted to 397,360,000 cwts, up
2,387,000 from 394,973,000 in 2005 but still

LATE

23,910,000 below the record in 2000.
While flour output showed a fractional gain, grind of wheat and production of millfeed in 2006 were both
down slightly.
The North American Millers' Association provides funding to the Census
Continued on Page 16

NEWS
MEXICO CITY - A favorable sales mix, new product
launches, strong volumes at national retailers and growth
in Mexico branded goods helped drive a fiscal year sales increase of 8% in the United States for Mexico City-based Grupo Bimbo S.A. de C.V. U.S. sales of NP15,218 million ($1,389
million) for the year ended Dec. 31, 2006, compared with
NP14,103 million ($1,287 million) in the previous fiscal year.
Fiscal year operating profit in the United States was NP188 million, more
Continued on Page 8

Bimbo
U.S. sales
climb 8%

inside

U.S.D.A. forecasts
mostly stable wheat
outlook through 2016
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department
of Agriculture in its U.S.D.A. Agricultural
Projections to 2016 (known as the baseline
projections) has projected area planted
to wheat for harvest this year at 60 million acres, compared with 57.3 million
acres in 2006. But decreases in planted
area were projected for the following two
years, to 59.5 million acres in 2008 and 59
million acres in 2009. Beginning in 2010
and continuing through 2016, planted
wheat area was projected to stabilize at
58.5 million acres.
The wheat outlook through 2016 was
relatively stable, when compared with
corn and soybeans. Corn planted area was
projected to reach 90 million acres, the largest since 1949, during much of the baseline
period because of increasing demand for
corn for use in ethanol manufacture. Corn
Continued on Page 53

THIS WEEK

Agricore
moves to
fend off
hostile bid

Baked
foods C.P.I.
rises in
January

Ingredient
Ethanol
boosts
Andersons
earnings

Week
sponsored by

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

Milling & Baking News - February 27, 2007

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