Source: Ukragroconsult (Ukraine)
In the first quarter of 2025, flour production reached 106.367 million pounds, marking an increase of 835,000 pounds (0.8%) compared to 105.532 million pounds produced during January-March 2024, as reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service on May 1. This represented the fifth straight quarter in which flour output surpassed that of the same period the previous year.
However, flour output in the early months of 2025 was 964,000 pounds (0.9%) lower than the 107.331 million pounds produced in the closing quarter of 2024.
Operating on a six-day workweek, flour millers in the first quarter of 2025 produced an average daily output of 1.4 million quintals – a rise of 1.371 million quintals over the comparable quarter a year prior, and 1.394 million quintals more than in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The utilization rate of U.S. flour mills stood at 87.4% capacity based on a six-day workweek during the first quarter, which was an increase from 85.2% in January-March 2024 and slightly higher than the 87.1% recorded in October-December 2024.
Daily flour production by U.S. mills in the first quarter amounted to 1,601,217 hundredweight (cwt), a decrease of 6,825 cwt (0.4%) from a revised 1,608,042 cwt in the first quarter of the previous year. Notably, production figures for January-March 2024 were upwardly revised by 2,656 thousand cwt. The production capacity for the first quarter remained steady compared to the last quarter of 2024, though that previous figure was itself revised upward by 2,700 thousand tons.
Semolina output during the same period totaled 8.373 million pounds, reflecting a growth of 335,000 pounds (4.2%) over the 8.038 million pounds produced a year earlier, and an increase of 123,000 pounds (1.5%) compared with 8.25 million pounds in the fourth quarter of 2024.
When excluding semolina, flour production in the January-March quarter reached 97.994 million cwt, which was 500,000 cwt (0.5%) higher than the 97.494 million cwt recorded a year earlier, yet represented a decline of 1.087 million cwt (1.1%) from 99.081 million cwt in the previous quarter.
Production of whole wheat flour in the first quarter stood at 4.494 million pounds, decreasing by 192,000 pounds (4.1%) compared to 4.684 million pounds in the same quarter the previous year.