Food Business News - May 8, 2012 - 49

Ingredient Markets
Market commentary for one-week period ended May 4, 2012

Bakery Flour
Bookings of bakery ﬂour expanded last week. Prices declined. Wide price declines in wheat futures, especially at midweek, generated additional baker hedging and other component activity that increased ﬂour coverage for May-June and added to ownership and baker commitments to book ﬂour in the third quarter. Wheat futures prices slumped in part because of the outstanding outlook for the 2012 U.S. wheat crop. Participants in the Wheat Quality Council’s hard red winter wheat tour assessed a Kansas crop whose development was two to three weeks ahead of the average pace and whose condition was rated much higher than a year ago. Additionally, wheat growers across the northern Plains continued to make tremendous progress in planting this year’s spring wheat crop. Weaker prices encouraged bakers to hedge in futures in connection with prospective ﬂour bookings in the third quarter. Millers indicated some bakers booked basis and locked in millfeed credits for July-September. While the pace and variety of activity in bakery ﬂour markets picked up, volume did not yet reach the level of a broad expansion in contracting that often occurs shortly before harvest. Indications were ﬂour coverage through June was nearly completed in all ﬂour grades. In the case of bread ﬂour, ﬂat coverage (reﬂecting completed contracts with all components accounted for) for the third quarter was estimated at about 30%.

When component activity was considered, millers estimated baker commitments to ﬂour bookings for the quarter accounted for about 50% of the potential business for July-September. Flour grind was light. Southwest and Central states mills averaged ﬁve to 5½ days, Upper Midwest about six, Northeast 5½ and Southeast ﬁve. West coast mills ran ﬁve to 5½ days. FBN

Family Flour
Sales of national and regional brands of family ﬂour were limited last week. Carlot list prices were unchanged. Activity was in a seasonal lull with regard to home baking, so demand for family ﬂour was mostly routine. Most buyers of private label ﬂour were covered through old crop, and major buyers were at least partly covered for the summer. Several buyers held back from completing coverage for the summer and for the fall baking season in hope wheat and ﬂour prices will decline in the next several weeks given the outstanding outlook for the 2012 crop. FBN

Semolina
Bookings of semolina, granulars and durum ﬂour were limited last week. Prices declined. The price of choice milling hard amber durum quoted as a delivered Chicago/beyond value was $10 a bu, down 25c from the previous week and compared with $11.85 a

year ago. Prices last year began to advance sharply from mid-May to late June as it became clear producers would not be able to seed all the acres they intended because unrelenting rain prevented ﬁelds from drying out enough to support equipment. Prices peaked at $18 a bu at the end of June and declined slowly after the shock to the market wore off. Producers were faring much better in getting their ﬁelds seeded this year. The North Dakota durum crop was 41% planted by April 29 compared with 35% a week earlier and 10% as the recent ﬁve-year average for the date, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s ﬁeld ofﬁce in the state. Rain in the latter part of last week slowed progress, but moisture was most welcome. Durum emergence was 12% compared with 1% a week earlier and 1% as the average. Montana durum was 48% planted compared with 37% a week earlier and 18% as the average for the date. Pasta manufacturers have covered about 85% of their May-June semolina needs, and coverage for the third quarter of 2012 was estimated at about 55%. Participants noted new crop was offered at a discount to the nearby in anticipation of large U.S. and Canadian durum crops. Semolina shipments were mediocre, even slow, by some accounts. Durum mill grind struggled to reach a full five days. FBN

Bakers standard, Kansas City
Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
$26.00 $23.00 $20.00 $17.00 $14.00 $11.00 M A N
Previous Year

Bakery ﬂour
Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt — Change from — Year May 4 Apr. 27 Apr. 20 ago 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 17.50 17.40 14.00 … 19.60 19.50 22.50 19.50 19.85 19.35 19.25 20.70 14.80 16.30 19.90 21.90 24.90 18.30 23.20 20.75 21.25 -0.80 -0.45 -0.80 -0.45 — — ... ... -0.20 -0.20 -0.20 -0.20 -0.20 -0.20 -0.20 — -0.75 -0.75 -0.80 -0.40 -0.40 -0.75 — -0.80 -0.80 -0.70 -0.70 -0.70 -0.70 -0.70 -0.70 -0.70 — -0.15 -0.15 -0.45 -0.95 -0.95 -0.15 — 1.10 1.65 22.20 22.10 12.50 5.80 25.95 25.85 28.85 25.85 26.20 25.70 25.60 20.70 17.10 18.60 24.60 28.65 31.65 20.60 23.20 23.70 23.20

No. 1 hard amber durum
Track, Minneapolis — Change from — Year $ per bu May 4 Apr. 27 Apr. 20 ago Choice milling 13% 9.70 -.25 -.25 11.55 cents per bu Amber discount 10.00 — — 10.00 Durum discount 10@40 — — 10@40 Pufﬁng premium 0 — — 0
F
Current Year

Spring standard, Minneapolis
Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
$33.00 $29.00 $25.00

Semolina
Bulk, f.o.b. Minneapolis, $ per cwt — Change from — May 4 Apr. 27 Apr. 20 Semolina 23.55 -.65 -.65 Granulars 23.35 -.65 -.65 Flour 23.25 -.65 -.65 First clear 17.50 — — Second clear 13.00 — — Semolina - N.Y. 26.25 -.65 -.65 Year ago 27.30 27.10 27.00 16.80 11.00 30.00

$21.00 $17.00 $13.00 M A N
Previous Year

F
Current Year

Cracker ﬂour, Chicago
Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
$22.00

Nationally advertised family ﬂour
Dollars May 4 Family patent, 2-25s papers 24.12 4-10s n.a. 8-5s 18.62 18-2s 20.64 Self-rising n.a. Year ago 22.04 n.a. 16.96 19.14 n.a.

$18.00 $14.00 $10.00 M A N
Previous Year

F
Current Year

May 8, 2012

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Food Business News - May 8, 2012

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