WASHINGTON — Whole wheat flour production in April-June eked out a small gain from a year earlier, according to data issued Aug. 1 by the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the US Department of Agriculture.  Whole wheat’s share of total flour production hit a new low during the quarter.

Production of whole wheat flour totaling 4,315,000 cwts was up 26,000 cwts, or 0.6%, from 4,289,000 cwts in the second quarter last year. Production in the April-June period a year ago was the recent low-water mark — the smallest total for any quarter since NASS began compiling the data a decade ago. Second-quarter production was 4,536,000 in cwts 2022 and 4,866,000 cwts in 2021. The recent high was 5,513,000 cwts in 2015.

Second-quarter production in 2024 of 4,315,000 cwts was down 8% from first-quarter outturn of 4,686,000 cwts.

At 4,315,000 cwts, whole wheat flour accounted for 4.1% of all flour production, down from 4.2% a year earlier and 4.4% in the first quarter of this year. At 4.1%, whole wheat flour’s share hit a new low in the 10 years NASS has been compiling whole wheat flour production statistics.

Year to date, whole wheat flour production was 9,001,000 cwts, up 209,000 cwts, or 2.4%, from 8,792,000 cwts in the first half of 2023. Six-month production compared with 9,786,000 cwts in January-June 2022 and 9,726,000 in 2021.

Whole wheat semolina production in the second quarter was 79,000 cwts, down 5,000 cwts, or 6%, from 84,000 cwts in the second quarter last year. Production was up 46% from production of 54,000 cwts in the first quarter. Whole wheat semolina production accounted for 1.1% of total US semolina production, down from 1.2% a year earlier but up from 0.7% in the first quarter. Year-to-date whole wheat semolina production was 133,000 cwts, down 29% from 188,000 cwts in the first half of 2023.