Milling & Baking News - April 13, 2004 - 42

I N G R E D I E N T

W E E K

under May; new crop, 6c under July. The
Cincinnati mill basis was Chicago May
price; new crop, 5c under July. Elevator
bids were 3c under May; new crop, 14c
under July. Michigan white wheat with 1
p.p.m. vomitoxin or less was bid at 5c
over Chicago May; offers at 25c over.
Rated good to excellent by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture on April 4
was 71% of the crop in Missouri, 81% in
Illinois, 85% in Indiana, 66% in Ohio (28%
fair) and 73% in Michigan. The Arkansas
crop was rated 65% good to excellent,
and the North Carolina crop, 68%.
DURUM. The price of choice milling hard
amber durum at Minneapolis held at $5.30
a bu. Mills were comfortable with the condition of their pipelines. There was no
urgency evident in the marketplace.
While there were concerns about
U.S.D.A. forecasts suggesting northern
Plains producers would seed fewer acres
to durum this year than last, these were
not terribly worrisome, as U.S. durum
millers have access to Canadian supply at
no tariff should they need it.
Durum mill grind was down to 3½ to
five days because of the holiday. MBN

Millfeed
While major markets last week appeared to have peaked following significant advances, most other areas continued to move sharply higher. The bellwether Southwest market lost considerable ground beginning early in the week,
having moved up about $10 since late

January. This is normally a period when
sizable losses take place. The Pacific
Northwest, which has been relatively
strong for some months, also dropped
back appreciably. However, the Upper
Midwest, Central states, Buffalo and adjacent eastern markets as well as California all moved sharply higher.
Millfeed markets in general appeared
to be vulnerable to declines. A wide break
in corn before the Good Friday-Easter
holiday weekend prompted traders to reappraise the marketplace. In addition,
participants focused on Texas where pastures were greening. A number of mixers
cancelled orders not because of price but
due to curtailed business in line with the
seasonal shift to grass.
In addition, flour mill grind in the past
week after lagging so badly in recent
weeks now proved to be somewhat more
than expected. Millers at many points
after looking for only four days at best
often operated five or more and there
were some reports of six.
Still, some of the markets continued to
move briskly higher. Ongoing strength in
these regions reflected concern over
availability dictated both by prospective
slack grind in the months ahead and by
significant contracts to hog feeders in
some regions, restricting the amount of
millfeed available for feed manufacturers
and other users. In California, dairy feeding operations competed for millfeed.
Still, there were signs even in these
markets that mixers might begin looking
for substitutes around current levels. Use

Bulk Middlings

30-day shipment, Kansas City, $ per ton

30-day shipment, Chicago West, $ per ton

Bulk Middlings
April 8 close, $ per ton, for following shipping periods
April
May
June
Kansas City
81 @ 85 82 @ 87 82 @ 87
Chicago West
101 @ 105 98 @103 98 @ 103
Buffalo
91 @ 96 80 @ 87 79 @ 86
South. California 111 @ 113 103 @107 103 @ 107
North. California 111 @ 113 103 @107 103 @ 107
Pacific Northwest 85 @ 90 85 @ 90 85 @ 90
California and Pacific Northwest prices, delivered rail

42 / Milling & Baking News, April 13, 2004

Nationally Advertised Family Flour
Dollars
July-Sep.
88 @ 92
100 @ 105
78 @ 85
95 @ 100
95 @ 100
83 @ 88

8-5s

April 8
12.16

Year ago
12.16

Semolina
f.o.b. Minneapolis, $ per cwt
Week's
Year
April 8
change
ago
13.35 @ 13.45
-
14.80@ 14.90

of other ingredients was under review in
California just prior to the holiday.
Wheat germ was unchanged.
Bulk middlings at $81 a ton in Kansas
City and $90 in Minneapolis compared
with yellow corn at $115 K.C., and sorghum at $111. Corn gluten feed was off $5
at $93 a ton. Dehydrated alfalfa was unchanged at $119 a ton. MBN

Semolina
Bookings of semolina, granulars and
durum flour expanded last week. Prices
were little changed from the week before.
Individual pasta makers filled in gaps
in their April coverage, with some extending contract balances to mid-May. Most
buyers were motivated to keep coverage
at about 45 days or so. Some viewed with
concern volatility and strength in spring
wheat, though the cash price of choice
milling hard amber durum in Minneapolis remained at $5.30 a bu.
One miller observed that spring wheat
increasingly has been used to manufacture some short dried pasta goods as well
as noodles made for some soups and
other canned products. The ability to
substitute spring wheat for durum in
such products has helped contain durum
pricing even as other wheat markets
strengthened, he said. MBN

Family Flour
Sales of national and regional brands
of family flour were limited last week.
Carlot list prices were unchanged.
With manufacturing and shipping for
Easter now past, the pace of sales and
operations slowed appreciably. Packaging lines operated about four days compared with up to six the previous week.
While downtime for the Easter weekend
was a factor, operations weren't expected
to increase much following the holiday.
March volume was said to be off as
much as 19% from a year ago, according
to one manufacturer. But this in good part
was due to the early date of Easter this
year compared with 2003. February volume this year was well up from a year
earlier as an offset. And the increase seen
in that month also was attributed to the
early date for Easter. It seemed for the
season, sales were on par with 2003 or a
bit lower.
National brands were sold as low as
99c per 5-lb bag in grocery stores. At the
same time, this discount was not so great
as in many recent years. MBN

Bakery Shortening
Bookings of bakery shortening were
slow last week, until futures prices
dropped on Thursday, sparking brief interest before the long weekend. Cash soybean oil prices were lower, while other
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Milling & Baking News - April 13, 2004

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