Decline in US flour production continued this quarter

According to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), released on December 10, flour production at U.S. mills in the third quarter of this year totaled 4.819 million tons. This is 53,400 tons (or 1.1%) lower than the 4.872 million tons produced in July-September 2024.

The USDA originally planned to release its third-quarter data on November 3, but it was delayed due to the government shutdown.

At 4.819 million tons, production increased by 150,500 tons (or 3.2%) compared to the second quarter of this year. However, this is the lowest third-quarter output in the past four years, since 2021, when 4.815 million tons were produced.

Cumulative flour production since the beginning of 2025 (over three quarters) amounted to 14.266 million tonnes, a decrease of 151,000 tonnes (1%) compared to 14.417 million tonnes for January-September 2024.

Daily milling capacity in the third quarter amounted to 72,695 tonnes, 99.5 tonnes per day higher than in the third quarter of 2024 and 553 tonnes higher than in the second quarter of this year.

Based on a six-day workweek and 77 working days per quarter, mill utilization was 86.1% of daily capacity. This is more than one percentage point lower than last year’s figure for the same period (87.2%), but higher than in the second quarter of this year (84%).

Durum wheat semolina production in the third quarter of 2025 totaled 350,000 tonnes, a decrease of 7,600 tonnes (2.1%) from 357,700 tonnes a year earlier. In the second quarter, this figure was 354,800 tonnes. Flour production in the United States, excluding semolina, totaled 4.468 million tonnes in the third quarter, a decrease of 45,700 tonnes (1%) from 4.514 million tonnes a year earlier.

Whole grain flour production fell to 197,400 tonnes in the third quarter, a decrease of 14,900 tonnes (7%) from 212,300 tonnes a year earlier.

Rye flour production in the third quarter amounted to 7.12 thousand tons, remaining virtually unchanged compared to 7.17 thousand tons in July-September 2024.

Tags: flour, USA