Milling & Baking News - September 2, 2014 - 38

Ingredient Week 

Bakery Flour
Bookings of bakery flour were steady
last week. Prices of flour milled from
hard red winter and hard red spring
wheat were raised sharply while soft
flour pricing was lowered.
Standing out among developments
in bakery flour markets was the spike
in cash spring wheat premiums early
last week. Stunned spring grade buyers
sought to regain their footing toward the
week's end. In most cases, the stronger
cash market, which reflected ongoing
rail logistical problems, slow progress
in the spring wheat harvest and mounting worries over crop quality in view of
persistently wet weather in the past few
weeks, pushed prospective buyers to the
sidelines. At the same time, individual
bakers with menu pricing to protect,
worried that the spring wheat basis may
continue to escalate, defensively covered
the basis component of prospective flour
bookings into the first and even second
quarters of 2015.
The cash hard winter wheat basis also
advanced, which pushed pan bread flour
prices higher with Kansas City wheat futures trading sideways.
Bakers added incrementally to their
flour coverage for October-December,
with coverage for September solid.
Pan bread flour coverage for the
fourth quarter was estimated to be
around 35% completed. When considering component coverage as well, bakers'
commitments to fourth-quarter contracts was at about 50% of the potential

Bakery ﬂour
Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
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

business for the period. Commitments to
January-March contracts were estimated
to account for 10% of the first quarter's
flour needs.
Spring grade coverage was somewhat
lighter with specialty bread bakers and
other users who were waiting for elusive
harvest pressure on pricing now in shock
from the spike in the spring wheat basis.
Cookie-cracker and specialty bakers
held coverage similar in extent to the
bread bakers.
Mill grind was six days across most of
the country, but the Labor Day weekend
may pull this week's averages lower. MBN

Family Flour
Sales of national and regional brands
of family flour continued to expand
seasonally. Carlot list prices were unchanged.
Preparations for the fall baking season
were well under way. Larger manufacturers have been prepacking flour for
the baking season for the past couple of
weeks and will continue to do so until
the fall orders begin to come in. It was
expected volume of flour to be sold this
autumn will be similar to last year. In
a market that often sees year-over-year
declines in volume as home baking diminishes, this was not an unfavorable
forecast.
Product promotion during the baking season was expected to be similar to
that seen last year, when two 5-lb bags of
flour were offered as low as $4 on grocers' shelves in several markets. MBN

Semolina
Bookings of semolina, granulars and durum flour continued at a fairly brisk pace.
Prices changes were narrow with higher
Upper Midwest millfeed values offsetting a
narrow hike in cash durum prices.
The price of choice milling hard amber
durum as quoted at the Chicago gateway
was a nominal $12.35 a bu, up 10c from
a week earlier. The Minneapolis price
was a nominal $12.05 a bu. Cash durum
trades were few and far between.
Pasta manufacturers continued to
extend contract balances into the fourth
quarter of 2014. One durum miller
estimated October-December durum
coverage at about 70%. Some pasta
makers booked supply even as cash
durum prices rose out of concern they
may rise yet further because of quality
and transportation concerns. Coverage
beyond the fourth quarter, though, was
nearly lacking.
Durum mills ran about six days last
week and were expected to run nearly
six days this week.
The North Dakota durum crop was
9% harvested as of Aug. 24 compared
with 25% as the recent five-year average
for the date. The Montana durum crop
was 10% combined compared with 23%
as the five-year average. MBN

Bakers standard, Kansas City
Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
$24.00
$22.00
$20.00

No. 1 hard amber durum
Track, Chicago
- Change from - Year
- Change from - Year $ per bu
Aug. 29 Aug. 22 Aug. 15 ago
Aug. 29 Aug. 22 Aug. 15 ago Choice milling 13% 12.35
+.10
+.35 9.25

$18.00
$16.00
A

N

F

M

Previous Year

18.85
18.75
14.00
...

0.55
0.55
-
...

1.10
1.10
-
...

19.30 Track, Minneapolis
19.20 $ per bu
14.00 Choice milling 13% 12.05
...

20.75
20.65
23.65
20.65
21.00
20.50
20.40
22.40

2.30
2.30
2.30
2.30
2.30
2.30
2.30
-0.45

3.35
3.35
3.35
3.35
3.35
3.35
3.35
-1.40

19.10
19.00
22.00
19.00
19.35
18.85
18.75
22.90

13.05
14.55

-0.35
-0.35

-0.90
-0.90

15.75
17.25

21.25
23.55
26.55
16.55
24.90

0.55
2.65
2.65
-0.35
-0.45

1.10
3.75
3.75
-0.90
-1.40

21.70
21.85
24.85
19.25
25.40

24.15
24.20

0.55
0.55

1.10
1.10

24.40
24.25

38 / September 2, 2014 Milling & Baking News

Current Year

Spring standard, Minneapolis
+.10

+.35

9.50

Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
$24.00

Semolina

Bulk, f.o.b. Minneapolis, $ per cwt
- Change from -
Aug. 29 Aug. 22 Aug. 15
Semolina
29.80
-.05
+.45
Granulars
29.60
-.05
+.45
Flour
29.50
-.05
+.45
First clear
19.10
-
-
Second clear 13.50
-
-
Semolina - N.Y. 32.60
-.05
+.45

$22.00

Year
ago
22.10
21.90
21.80
17.55
13.50
24.80

Nationally advertised family ﬂour

$20.00
$18.00
$16.00
A

N

F
Previous Year

M
Current Year

Cracker ﬂour, Chicago
Bulk, f.o.b. car, $ per cwt
$21.00

Dollars
Aug. 29
Family patent, 2-25s papers 24.12
4-10s
n.a.
8-5s
18.52
18-2s
20.64
Self-rising
n.a.

$19.00

Year ago
24.12
n.a.
18.52
20.64
n.a.

$17.00
$15.00
$13.00
$11.00
A

N

F
Previous Year

M
Current Year

bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com
http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com
Milling & Baking News - September 2, 2014

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