US flour production has fallen to its lowest level in years

US flour mills produced 102,912,000 cwts of flour in the second quarter of 2025, according to data issued Aug. 1 by the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the US Department of Agriculture. Production during the quarter was off from a year earlier, and the outturn ranked among the smallest of any quarter for the last 15 years.

At 102,912,000 cwts, production was down 1,996,000 cwts, or 1.9%, from 104,908,000 in the second quarter last year. Production was down 2,465,000 cwts, or 2.3%, from 105,377,000 cwts in the first quarter of 2025.

With the exception of one quarter early during the COVID-19 pandemic (a period when quarterly production swung widely from quarter to quarter), the second quarter outturn figure for 2025 was the smallest for any quarter in 13 years, or since 101,936,000 cwts was produced in the second quarter of 2012. Over the last 60 quarters, spanning a full 15 years, flour production topped this year’s April-June total in every quarter except three.

Flour mills during the second quarter operated at 84% of six-day capacity, down from 85.3% in the second quarter last year and off from 86.6% in January-March 2025. The operating rate was the lowest since 83.8% in the second quarter of 2023.

Flour milling capacity in the second quarter was 1,590,734 cwts per day, down 10,005 cwts from 1,600,442 cwts a year earlier and down 10,083 cwts from 1,600,817 cwts in the first quarter.

Semolina production in the second quarter was 7,823,000 cwts, up 6.7% from 7,332,000 cwts in the second quarter last year. Production was down 408,000 cwts from 8,231,000 cwts in the first quarter of 2025.

Flour production excluding semolina in the second quarter was 95,089,000, down 2,487,000 cwts, or 2.5%, from 97,576,000 cwts in the second quarter of 2024.

Tags: flour, USA