WASHINGTON — Whole wheat flour production in the July-September period totaled 6,048,000 cwts, down 4.4% from 6,326,000 cwts in the same quarter in 2015. The data were published Nov. 1 by the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The quarter was the third in a row of negative comparisons for whole wheat production versus the year earlier period. At the same time, July-September whole wheat production of 6,048,000 cwts was up 17% from April-June, when production hit a new recent low of 5,168,000 cwts.
Over the first three quarters of 2016, whole wheat flour production was 16,731,000 cwts, down 7% from 17,961,000 in January-September 2015.
At 6,048,000 cwts, whole wheat flour production in July-September accounted for 5.6% of total U.S. flour production, which aggregated 107,815,000 cwts (down less than 1% from 107,879,000 cwts in July-September 2015). The 5.6% share for whole wheat flour in the third quarter was down from 5.9% in the third quarter of 2015 but was up from 5% in the second quarter of 2016.
Production of whole wheat semolina and durum flour was 181,000 cwts in the third quarter. The figure was down sharply from 339,000 cwts in the third quarter of 2015 but was higher than 162,000 cwts in the second quarter of 2016.
