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US flour production rises in Q2, ending five-quarter decline
Second-quarter flour output totaled 103.464 million cwts, up 552,000 cwts or 0.5% year over year, and capacity utilization improved to 84.6% of six-day capacity.
US flour production increased modestly in the second quarter of 2026, ending a streak of five consecutive down quarters, according to data released Aug. 3 by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, as reported by World Grain.
Second-quarter flour production reached 103.464 million cwts, up 552,000 cwts, or 0.5%, from 102.912 million cwts in the same period a year earlier. World Grain noted this was the first quarterly total to exceed the year-ago level since the last quarter of 2024, and it was also higher than the 102.76 million cwts produced in the first quarter of 2026.
Flour mills operated at 84.6% of six-day capacity in the second quarter, up from 84.0% a year earlier, and slightly below the 84.9% reported for the first quarter. While flour production rose versus the prior year period, World Grain said wheat ground for flour fell by 655,000 bushels, or 0.3%, to 222.284 million bushels, and millfeed production decreased to 1,593,264 tons, down 0.4% year over year.
For the first six months of 2026, flour production totaled 206.224 million cwts, down 1.0% from the first half of 2025, marking the smallest January to June total since 205.398 million cwts in 2012, World Grain added.
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