WASHINGTON — Whole wheat flour production in the second quarter was 4,289,000 cwts, down 247,000 cwts, or 5%, from 4,536,000 cwts in April-June 2022, according to data issued Aug. 1 by the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the US Department of Agriculture. From the first quarter of this year, whole wheat flour production was down 214,000 cwts, or 4.8%.

Production of 4,289,000 cwts represented a new low for whole wheat production in the nine years NASS has been gathering whole wheat flour production data. The figure falls below the previous low of 4,471,000 cwts in the second quarter of 2020, a quarter when flour production, including whole wheat, was constrained by the rapidly unfolding COVID-19 pandemic. Other than April-June 2020, the previous low during the NASS era was the first quarter of 2023, at 4,503,000 cwts. April-June 2022 was next lowest, at 4,536,000 cwts.

Production in the second quarter of 2023 was down 32% from the peak NASS whole wheat production number of 6,326,000 cwts in July-September 2015.

As a percentage of total US flour production, second-quarter whole wheat outturn slumped to 4.2%, down from 4.5% a year earlier and 4.3% in the first quarter of 2023.

Through the first six months of 2023, whole wheat flour production was 8,792,000 cwts, down 994,000 cwts, or 10%, from 9,786,000 cwts in the same period last year.

Whole wheat semolina production in April-June was 84,000 cwts, unchanged from the second quarter of 2022 and down 19% from 104,000 cwts in the first quarter.

Whole wheat semolina in the second quarter accounted for 1.2% of all US semolina production, up from 1.1% a year ago and unchanged from 1.2% in the first quarter of this year.

For the first six months of the year, whole wheat semolina production was 188,000 cwts, up 5% from 179,000 cwts in January-June 2022.

Excluding semolina, whole wheat flour production in the second quarter was 4,205,000 cwts, down 247,000 cwts, or 6%, from 4,452,000 cwts in the same period in 2022. Production was down 4.4% from 4,399,000 cwts in the first quarter.

Whole wheat flour ex-semolina accounted for 4.4% of all US flour production ex-semolina in the quarter, down from 4.5% a year earlier and 4.7% in the first quarter.