Milling & Baking News - May 21, 2019 - 38

Data

subsequently were interpolated by
Milling & Baking News to make the
data comparable with earlier statistics compiled by the U.S. Census
Bureau.
U.S. 24-hour flour production capacity in January-March was a record 1,650,331 cwts, up 8,700 from
1,641,631 a year ago. It was 1,619,601
throughout 2017 and the last half of
2016. October-December 2018 capacity was listed at 1,650,331 in the
last NASS report. In the only flour
revision for 2018 data NASS revised
fourth-quarter capacity to 1,642,331
or unchanged from prior quarters.
Flour mill grind in January-March
averaged 82.6% of six-day capacity,
down from 83.6% a year ago. Capacity utilization was the lowest
for any quarter in 18 years or since
78.7% in April-June 2001. It was the
lowest first-quarter rate also since
2001 when it was 81.3%.
It was down from 85.2% in the
fourth quarter. This number was
84.8% as published two months ago,
now changed along with the parallel capacity revision.
Working days in the first quarter
totaled 76, down from 77 in both the
fourth quarter and a year back.
Wheat grind in January-March
totaled 223,490,000 bus, down 1.6%
from the record 227,147,000 bus a
year back. It was down 3.5% from
231,661,000 bus in the fourth quarter.
The previous peak wheat grind for
this quarter was in 2000 at 225,637,000
bus. The all-time high was 247,738,000
in the fourth of that year.
Millfeed output in the first quarter aggregated 1,581,440 tons, a
decrease of 1.6% from 1,606,569 a
year ago. It was down 2.9% from
1,628,348 tons in the fourth quarter.
The record for January-March was
2001 at 1,806,152 tons. The peak for
any quarter was 1,947,407 tons in
October-December 2000.

Quarterly U.S. wheat flour production
(million cwts)

115

110

105

100

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

The extraction rate in JanuaryMarch was 77.3%, down from 77.5%
in the fourth quarter and a year ago.
It was 77.9% two years ago when
extraction was the highest since the
start of NASS statistics.
Durum semolina production in
the first quarter of 2019 aggregated
7,903,000 cwts, down 253,000, or
3.1%, from 8,156,000 cwts a year ago.
It was down 4.8% from 8,300,000 cwts
in the fourth quarter. Semolina data
from 2012 until mid-2014 are approximations by Milling & Baking News.
The most recent Census first-quarter
output was in 2011 at 8,593,000 cwts.
NASS also shows durum grind in January-March 2019 at 16,467,000 bus,
down 3.8% from 17,114,000 a year
ago. It was off 6.1% from 17,538,000
in the fourth quarter.
Durum mill capacity in JanuaryMarch was 131,330 cwts, up 8,100

Daily durum milling capacity
(cwts)

144,000

136,000

128,000

120,000

38 / May 21, 2019

2005

2007

Milling & Baking News

2009

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

cwts, or 7%, from 123,230 cwts in
January-March 2018 and compared
with 123,330 cwts in October-December 2018. Durum mill grind in January-March averaged 79.2% of sixday capacity, down from 86% a year
ago and 87.4% in the fourth quarter
of 2018. For all of 2018, durum mill
grind was 84.4%, versus 89.8% in
2017. Quarterly grind was the lowest
since 78.3% in April-June 2017.
Unchanged from preliminary
numbers issued two months back,
NASS shows 2018 durum semolina output at 31,951,000 cwts, up
0.5% from 31,799,000 in 2017. It was
31,338,000 cwts in 2016. This was
well below earlier Census semolina
highs over 32 million bus. Durum
grind aggregated 67,086,000 bus in
2018 against 66,374,000 bus in 2017
and 66,745,000 in 2016.
Flour output ex-semolina in
January-March 2019 aggregated
95,744,000 cwts, down 1.8% from
97,456,000 a year ago in the same
quarter of 2018. It was down 3.7%
from 99,418,000 in the fourth quarter. Based on NASS numbers, flourex-semolina rate of grind in the first
quarter came to 82.9% of six-day capacity, against 85% in the fourth and
83.4% a year ago.
Rye flour output totaled 209,000
cwts in the first quarter, against
210,000 in October-December and
234,000 a year ago.
Leading production in regions and
individual states in January-March
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Milling & Baking News - May 21, 2019

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