TOLEDO, OHIO — A Mondelez International soft wheat flour processing facility, the second largest flour mill in the United States, was expected to resume operations sometime Friday after being closed all week because a freight train derailed and knocked out power to the mill last Sunday, trade sources said.
The Toledo Blade reported a Mondelez International spokesperson said small generators had been used to insure safety of the mill and some maintenance work, but they did not provide enough power to start up operations this week.
Mondelez plans to adhere to Toledo Edison’s restoration schedule rather than make any attempts to restart the mill using temporary sources of power, the company said.
Attempts by Milling & Baking News to reach both mill personnel and media contacts at Mondelez were unsuccessful.
The Toledo mill is a significant source of millfeed, a byproduct of the flour milling process widely used in livestock feed. Market participants both in Ohio and across the country’s midsection said the closing of the Toledo mill all week was causing acute shortages of millfeed in a variety of locations and spot prices were trending sharply higher.
According to Sosland Publishing Co.’s 2017 Grain & Milling Annual, the Mondelez facility has a daily flour production capacity of 31,000 cwts and storage capacity of 5.5 million bus of wheat.