Milling & Baking News - October 8, 2019 - 32

Ingredient Week

Bakery Flour
Bookings of bakery flour were light
last week. Price adjustments were
mixed. Outstanding was the wide drop
in spring grade flour pricing as both
Minneapolis spring wheat futures and
cash spring wheat premiums beat retreats after rallying a couple of weeks
earlier on crop quality concerns. Pan
bread flour pricing also declined while
soft flour pricing advanced.
Most of the week's activity in flour involved bakers and other flour buyers filling gaps in November-December coverage. This was accomplished by covering
whatever components were outstanding
to complete contracts. Most major bakers
were completely covered for the fourth
quarter. Most remaining business was
to be conducted with distributors, particularly in the Northeast, who typically
maintain contract balances extending
only a couple of weeks or so.
Attention now was on the first quarter
of 2020. Millers indicated there was no
significant additional business transacted for the quarter, including component
coverage. Spring grade users that earlier
extended contract balances into the first
quarter were happy to have done so before the surge in spring wheat futures
and cash premiums that erupted in midSeptember. Since that surge seemed to be
ebbing, specialty bread bakers and other
spring grade buyers hoped for better
pricing opportunities in the weeks ahead.
Millers estimated first-quarter flour
coverage at 50% to 60% for pan flour,

Bakery ﬂour

Family Flour
Seasonal increases were evident in
sales and shipments of national and regional brands of family flour. Carlot list
prices were unchanged. Several private
label customers were contracted through
the summer of 2020.
Demand for family flour began to
increase as the fall baking season drew
closer and temperatures cooled. Low
wheat prices may help spur aggressive
family flour promotions leading up to
the winter holidays. Currently, branded
product in 5-lb bags was $2.48@2.59 at
mass merchandisers, where private label
flour was listed at $1.99 per 5-lb. bag or
even $6.98 for two 10-lb bags.
Manufacturers at last week's Home
Baking Association annual meeting in
Lake Placid, N.Y., attended talks on such
topics as new rules for bio-engineered
labeling, baking food safety awareness
and a panel entitled "Millennial Bakers
and Younger Baking Connections." MBN

Semolina
Bookings of semolina, granulars and
durum flour were slim last week. Prices
edged higher a week after a sharp advance. Durum mill runtimes were said to
be "solid," averaging 5½ days last week.
The price of choice milling hard am-

No. 1 hard amber durum

Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
Oct. 4
Kansas City
Bakers short patent
Bakers standard patent
Second clear
Third clear
Minneapolis
Spring short patent
Spring standard patent
High gluten
Whole wheat
Specialty whole wheat
Fancy spring clear
First spring clear
Rye, white
Chicago
Cracker
Fancy cake
New York
Winter/spring blend
Spring standard patent
High gluten
Fancy cake
Rye, white
Los Angeles
Bakers standard patent
Pastry
32 / October 8, 2019

50% to 65% for spring grades and 20%
to 40% for soft flour. Coverage into the
second quarter of 2020 was light.
Mill grind averaged between 5½ and
six days across most of the country. MBN

- Change from - Year
Sept. 27 Sept. 20 ago

Track, Chicago
$ per bu
Oct. 4
Choice milling 13% 8.75

ber durum as quoted at the Chicago
rail gateway for delivery beyond was
a nominal $8.75 a bu. The Minneapolis
price was $8.45 a bu.
Many pasta manufacturers earlier
took advantage of price levels that fit
their programs and contracted their semolina needs about nine months out, further than is typical, a miller said. Little
new business was conducted last week.
Semolina coverage remained about 90%
for the fourth quarter and 50% for the
first three months of 2020.
Seller interest remained minimal.
There was little to indicate the direction the market might take, but "the bull
hasn't been fed for a week," a durum
miller said, and with no impetus to go
higher, "we're in limbo."
The durum harvest continued behind
the average pace, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture said, pegging the Montana
harvest at 55% completed compared
with 93% a year ago. The North Dakota
harvest was 78% completed, but ideas
were that producers there may have
moved on to other activities, abandoning the rest. That was "disappointing,
but not surprising," a miller said, considering the degraded quality of what
remains in fields that were, in some cases, inaccessible due to mud. MBN

Bakers standard, Kansas City
Bulk, f.o.b. car, per cwt
$18.50
$16.50
$14.50

- Change from - Year
Sept. 27 Sept. 20 ago
-
+1.00 7.75

$12.50
O

A
Previous Year

13.50
13.40
8.85
...

-0.45
-0.45
-
...

-0.30
-0.30
-
...

15.35
15.25
8.85
...

Track, Minneapolis
$ per bu

13.90
13.80
14.80
13.80
14.15
13.65
13.55
19.70

-1.85
-1.85
-1.85
-1.85
-1.85
-1.85
-1.85
0.10

-1.30
-1.30
-1.30
-1.30
-1.30
-1.30
-1.30
-0.15

16.00
15.90
18.90
15.90
16.25
15.75
15.65
14.45

Bulk, f.o.b. Minneapolis, $ per cwt
- Change from -
Oct. 4
Sept. 27 Sept. 20
Semolina
21.10
+.05
+2.40
Granulars
20.90
+.05
+2.40
Flour
20.80
+.05
+2.40
First clear
14.00
-
-
Second clear
7.00
-
-
Semolina - N.Y. 24.30
+.05
+2.40

13.70
15.20

0.25
0.25

-
-

13.80
15.30

15.90
15.85
16.85
17.20
22.20

-0.45
-1.95
-1.95
0.25
0.10

-0.30
-1.30
-1.30
-
-0.15

17.75
18.35
21.35
17.30
16.95

18.10
18.15

-0.45
-0.45

-0.30
-0.30

19.95
20.00

Milling & Baking News

Choice milling 13% 8.45

Spring standard, Minneapolis
-

+1.00

7.45

Semolina

Bulk, f.o.b. car, per cwt
$20.00
$18.00

Year
ago
18.95
18.75
18.65
15.50
8.50
22.15

Nationally advertised family ﬂour

$16.00
$14.00
$12.00
O

A
Previous Year

J
Current Year

Cracker ﬂour, Chicago
Bulk, f.o.b. car, per cwt
$15.00

Dollars
Family patent, 2-25s papers
4-10s
8-5s
18-2s
Self-rising

J
Current Year

Oct. 4
24.12
...
18.52
20.64
...

Year ago
24.12
...
18.52
20.64
...

$13.50
$12.00
$10.50
O

J
Previous Year

J
Current Year

bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com

Milling & Baking News - October 8, 2019

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