US flour production in ’25 smallest since 2011

US flour production in 2025 totaled 419.231 million cwts, down 3.964 million cwts, or 0.9%, from 423.195 million cwts in 2024, according to data issued Feb. 2 by the National Agricultural Statistics of the US Department of Agriculture. Punctuated by fourth-quarter production that was down 0.6% from October-December 2024, flour production last year was the smallest in 14 years.

The downturn in annual production represented a reversal from a brief upward move in 2024, when production for the year was up 3.197 million cwts from the year before. The retreat in 2025 completely erased the gain of 2024 and left the aggregate for the year at the smallest level since 411.745 million cwts in 2011.

The decrease for the year was not a surprise given that quarterly flour production was smaller than during the year before in each of the first three quarters of the year, falling 0.1% in the first quarter, 1.9% in the second and 1.1% in the third.

Fourth-quarter flour production was 104.712 million cwts, down 635,000 cwts, or 0.6%, from 105.347 million cwts in the final quarter of 2024. The fourth-quarter figure was the smallest total for any October-December since 2009, when production was 103.717 million cwts.

 Flour mills in 2025 operated at 85.2% of six-day capacity, down from 85.8% in 2024 and the lowest annual figure since 83.4% in 2019. Annual average capacity utilization has fallen shy of 85% only 4 times in the last 40 years — 2016, 2018, 2019 and now 2025.

In the fourth quarter, US flour mills operated at 84.9% of daily capacity, down from 85.7% a year earlier and down from 86.1% in the third quarter of 2025.

Daily flour milling capacity in the fourth quarter was 1,602,637 cwts, unchanged from the third quarter but up 1,421,000 cwts from the fourth quarter last year.

Semolina production in 2025 was 31.377 million cwts, down 0.4% from a year earlier. In the fourth quarter, semolina production was 7.606 million cwts, down 8% from 8.250 million cwts a year earlier.

Whole wheat flour production in 2025 was 17.451 million cwts, down 779,000 cwts, or 4.3%, from 18.230 million in 2024. Fourth-quarter whole wheat flour production was 4.4 million cwts, down 148,000 cwts, or 3.3%, from 4.548 million cwts in the fourth quarter last year.