Posted on February, 4, 2025 at 10:11 am
Flour production in 2024 in the United States was 425,179,000 cwts, up 5,181,000 cwts, or 1.2%, from 2023 but was solidly below the record outturn of 2022, according to data issued Feb. 3 by the National Agriculture Statistics Service of the US Department of Agriculture.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, flour production was 107,331,000 cwts, up 1,984,000 cwts, or 1.9%, from 105,347,000 cwts in the final period of 2023.
At 425,179,000 cwts, 2024 production was down 5,105,000 cwts from the record of 430,284,000 cwts set in 2022 and fell shy of production levels in 2020 (425,797,000 cwts), 2018 (426,871,000 cwts) and 2017 (426,399,000 cwts). Production last year was slightly above the 10-year (2014-23) average of 424,635,000 cwts, suggesting no upward breakout last year despite the increase from 2023.
Flour mills in 2024 operated at 86.4% of six-day production, an improvement from 86% in 2023 but below 88.4% in 2022 and 88.4% in 2021. The 10-year average (2014-23) for flour mill capacity utilization was 85.9%.
Production in the fourth quarter of 107,331,000 cwts, while up 1.9% from October-December 2023, was down 77,000 cwts, or 0.1%, from 107,408,000 cwts in the third quarter of 2024.
US flour mills operated at 87.2% of daily capacity in the fourth quarter, up from 86.8% a year earlier and compared with 87.3% in the third quarter. Other than last year, fourth quarter grind was the lowest for the final quarter of a year since 2019, when it was 85%.
Daily flour milling capacity in the fourth quarter was 1,598,517 cwts, up 2,131,000 cwts, or 0.1%, from 1,596,386 in the fourth quarter last year. Capacity was up 775 cwts from the third quarter of 2024.
Wheat grind in the fourth quarter was 230,786,000 bus, up 4,137,000 bus, or 1.8%, from 226,649,000 bus in October-December 2023. Millfeed production during the quarter was 1,636,755 tons, up 38,700 tons, or 2.4%, from 1,598,055 tons the year before.
Whole wheat flour production in the fourth quarter was 4,548,000 cwts, down 0.7% from October-December 2024. Semolina production in the last quarter of 2024 was 8,250,000 cwts, up 266,000, or 3.3%, from the year before. Rye flour outturn was 152,000 cwts, down 22,000 cwts, or 13%, from 174,000 cwts in the last quarter of 2023.
Source: World Grain