According to the latest USDA Flour Milling Products Report, flour production in January-March 2020 set a record for the quarter at 107.272 million cwts, up 3.672 million, or 3.5%, from 103.6 million in the first quarter of 2019.
All wheat ground for flour during the first quarter 2020 was 232 million bushels, down slightly from the fourth quarter 2019 grind of 232 million bushels but up 4 percent from the first quarter 2019 grind of 223 million bushels. First quarter 2020 total flour production was 107 million hundredweight, down 1 percent from the fourth quarter 2019 but up 4 percent from the first quarter 2019. Whole wheat flour production, at 5.90 million hundredweight during the first quarter 2020, accounted for 6 percent of the total flour production. Millfeed production from wheat in the first quarter 2020 was 1.65 million tons. The daily 24-hour milling capacity of wheat flour during the first quarter 2020 was 1.61 million hundredweight.
Durum wheat ground for flour and semolina production during the first quarter of 2020 totaled 17.3 million bushels, down 4 percent from the fourth quarter 2019 but up 5 percent from the first quarter 2019. First quarter 2020 durum flour and semolina production was 8.14 million hundredweight, down 4 percent from the fourth quarter 2019 but up 3 percent from the first quarter 2019. Whole wheat durum flour and semolina production was 171,000 hundredweight, up 7 percent from 160,000 hundredweight in the fourth quarter 2019 and up 14 percent from150,000 hundredweight from the first quarter 2019. First quarter durum wheat millfeed production was 117,200 tons and the daily 24-hour milling capacity for durum and semolina production was 131,330 hundredweight.
Rye ground for flour during the first quarter of 2020 was 523,000 bushels, up 15 percent from the fourth quarter 2019 and up 22 percent from the first quarter 2019. Rye flour production during the first quarter of 2020 was 242,000 hundredweight, compared to 214,000 hundredweight in the previous quarter and 210,000 hundredweight in the same quarter for the previous year. The daily 24-hour milling capacity for rye milling was 9,785 hundredweight for the first quarter 2020.
