WASHINGTON — Production of straight semolina and durum flour by U.S. mills in July-September totaled 7,903,000 cwts, up 354,000 cwts, or 4.7%, from the recent low of 7,549,000 during the same quarter of 2008, according to the Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The latter was the smallest quarterly output since April-June 2005 when it was 7,255,000. The recent low was April-June 2004 at only 6,339,000.

The record quarter was January-March 1994 at 8,770,000 cwts. That was followed by October-December 1993 at 8,709,000, January-March 2000 at 8,696,000 and January-March 2001 at 8,680,000.

Production in the July-September 2009 quarter was down 515,000 cwts, or 6.1%, from 8,418,000 in the same quarter two years ago and down 26,000, or 0.3%, from 7,929,000 in July-September 2006.

July-September output was down 1.1% from 7,989,000 cwts in the second quarter of 2009.

The North American Millers’ Association provides funding to the Census Bureau in support of the compilation of these statistics.

Since the start of 2000, durum semolina production reports have not been fully comparable with earlier data.

Grind of durum wheat in July-September 2009 reached 17,678,000 bus, a gain of 6.5% from 16,593,000 in July-September 2008. The largest quarterly durum grind reported by the Census Bureau occurred in January-March 2001 at 19,416,000 bus, followed by January-March 1994 at 19,397,000, October-December 1993 at 19,200,000 and October-December 2007 at 19,079,000. Durum grind in the third quarter was down 0.1% from 16,593,000 bus in the second quarter.

The durum semolina extraction rate in July-September averaged 74.5%, against 75.2% in April-June and 75.8% in July-September 2008.

Straight semolina and durum flour production in the first nine months of 2009 was 24,084,000 cwts, up 4.5% from 23,044,000 in the first nine months of the prior year. The second largest on record, January-September 2007 totaled 24,602,000 cwts, against the record in January-September 1994 at 24,692,000, 2001 at 24,427,000 and 1996 at 24,246,000.

Grind of durum wheat in the first nine months of 2009 was 53,358,000 bus, up 4.7% from 50,953,000 in 2008. The total for January-September 2007 was the record 56,036,000. That compared with 2006 at 54,690,000, 1994 at 54,648,000 and 2001 at 54,568,000.

Based on these data, the semolina extraction rate in January-September 2009 was 75.2%, down from 75.4% in the prior year.