WASHINGTON — U.S. flour production in July-September aggregated 107,932,000 cwts, up 0.5% from 107,353,000 in the third quarter of 2009, according to preliminary data issued Nov. 12 by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of the Census. It was the sixth largest quarter on record and the fourth largest total for July-September. It was up 7.9% over 100,624,000 in the second quarter. The 24-hour capacity of U.S. mills in the quarter was 1,541,000 cwts, up 1,000 from the second quarter and 5,000 from July-September 2009. This was the largest capacity since July-September 2008. U.S. mills in the third quarter operated at 91% of six-day capacity, against 84.9% in the second and 90.8% a year back. It matched 91% also in July-September 2007 but fell under the recent peak of 93.4% in the third quarter of 2007. Semolina output in the quarter aggregated 8,585,000 cwts, up 8.1% from 7,939,000 a year back. Among the state and state-groupings, Kansas regained the lead for the first time since a year ago, but was still down from the same quarter last year. U.S. flour production in the first nine months of 2010 was 310,875,000 cwts, practically the same as 310,941,000 in the 2009 period. It was the fifth largest for the three quarters.