The quarter was the third in a row of negative comparisons for whole wheat production versus the year earlier period. At the same time, July-September whole wheat production of 6.048 million cwts was up 17% from April-June, when production hit a new recent low of 5.168 million cwts.
At 6.048 million cwts, whole wheat flour production in July-September accounted for 5.6% of total U.S. flour production, which aggregated 107.815 million cwts (down less than 1% from 107.879 million cwts in July-September 2015). The 5.6% share for whole wheat flour in the third quarter was down from 5.9% in the third quarter of 2015 but was up from 5% in the second quarter of 2016.
Production of whole wheat semolina and durum flour was 181,000 cwts in the third quarter. The figure was down sharply from 339,000 cwts in the third quarter of 2015 but was higher than 162,000 cwts in the second quarter of 2016.