WASHINGTON — Quarterly whole wheat flour production reached a new negative milestone in January-March, falling below 4 million cwts for the first time in the 12 years the US Department of Agriculture has been collecting whole wheat data. Whole wheat flour’s share of total flour production also sunk to a new low.

On May 1, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said whole wheat flour production in January-March totaled 3,911,000 cwts, down 577,000 cwts, or 13%, from 4,488,000 cwts in the first quarter of 2025. The 13% drop was the widest for any quarter on record from NASS, with the exception of three periods in 2020-21, reflecting wide swings related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Production in January-March was down 9% from 4,296,000 cwts in the final quarter of last year (the latter figure was revised downward by the USDA from 4,400,000 cwts).

At 3,911,000 cwts, first-quarter whole wheat flour accounted for 3.8% of total flour production, down from 4.3% a year earlier and 4.2% in October-December. It was the first time the 4% threshold was breached. Whole wheat’s share of flour production held above 5% from when the USDA began tracking this data in 2014 through the second quarter of 2020, peaking at 5.9% in 2015. Since the pandemic, whole wheat flour production has been falling steadily both in absolute terms and in share of total flour production.

Whole wheat semolina production in the first quarter was 60,000 cwts, down 29,000 cwts, or 33%, from 89,000 cwts in the same period in 2025. Production was unchanged from the fourth quarter of last year. Whole wheat’s share of total semolina production was 0.8%, down from 1.1% in January-March 2025 and unchanged from the fourth quarter of last year.

Production of whole wheat flour ex-semolina in January-March was 3,851,000 cwts, down 548,000 cwts, or 12%, from 4,399,000 cwts in the first three months last year. Whole wheat flour ex-semolina accounted for 4.1% of total flour production ex-semolina, down from 4.5% a year earlier and 4.4% a quarter earlier. 

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