US whole wheat flour production eases in third quarter

July-September US whole wheat flour production was 4,612,000 cwts, down 18,000 cwts, or 0.4%, from the third quarter last year, according to data issued Nov. 1 by the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the US Department of Agriculture. While slightly below last year’s figure, production during the period was well below whole wheat outturn in earlier third quarters, including 4,974,000 cwts in 2021, 4,908,000 cwts in 2020, 5,513,000 cwts in 2019 and 5,715,000 cwts in 2018. On a more positive note, the 18,000-cwt decrease was the smallest year-over-year decrease in five quarters. Over this period, whole wheat flour production was trending downward by an average of 403,000 cwts from the previous year. Additionally, 4,612,000 cwts was the largest whole wheat aggregate for the year, topping 4,289,000 cwts in the second quarter and 4,503,000 in the first. Third-quarter whole wheat flour production equated to 4.3% of total US flour production. In the first three quarters of ...