US flour production falls to 12-year low

US flour production in 2023 fell to a 12-year low, according to data issued Feb. 1 by the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the US Department of Agriculture. In the final quarter of 2023, flour production was the smallest since 2010.

At 419.757 million cwts, production last year was down 10.527 million cwts, or 2.4%, from the record 430.284 million cwts in 2022. It was the smallest annual total since 411.745 million cwts of flour were milled in 2011. For most of the period between 2012 and 2021, flour production annually hovered within 1 million cwts of 425 million each year. The year-to-year decrease of 10.5 million cwts in 2023 was the largest annual drop in 22 years, or since 2001 production dropped 16.759 million cwts from the year before.

Wheat grind in 2023 was 903.938 million bushels, down 2.7% from 928.615 million the year before. Millfeed production was 6,526,221 tons, down 205,750, or 3.1%, from 6,731,971 tons in 2022.

Daily 24-hour flour milling capacity in the fourth quarter (and the third) was 1,585,386 cwts, up 700 cwts from the fourth quarter of 2022 and up 400 cwts from April-June 2023.

Flour mills in 2023 operated at 86.5% of six-day capacity, down 2.1 percentage points from 88.4% in 2022 and the smallest in four years, or since 83.4% in 2019. The operating rate last year still was better than in any year between 2014 and 2019, when capacity utilization ranged from 83.4% and 86.4%.

In the fourth quarter, US flour production was 105.106 million cwts, down 1.441 million cwts, or 1.4%, from 106.547 million cwts in 2022. It was the smallest October-December aggregate since 104.792 million cwts in 2010. The record for fourth-quarter flour production was reached in 2013 — 110.332 million cwts. It was the record for any quarter and the only time the 110-million cwt threshold has been breached.

Bucking the overall downward flour trend last year, production of durum semolina in 2023 was 30.905 million cwts, up 276,000 cwts, or 0.9%, from 30.629 million in 2022. In the fourth quarter, semolina production was 7.984 million cwts, down 35,000 cwts, or 0.4%, from 8.019 million cwts in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Production of flour ex-semolina in 2023 was 388.852 million cwts, down 10.803 million cwts, or 2.7%, from 399.655 million cwts the year before. Fourth-quarter flour production ex-semolina was 97.122 million cwts, down 1.406 million cwts, or 1.4%, from 98.528 million cwts in October-December 2022.

Tags: flour, USA