At the same time, the IGC does make estimates of global and national consumption of wheat for food, which also reflect a rising trend around wheat for food, which relates to flour mill grind, in 2013-14, the latest crop season for which these data have been compiled, totaled 472,600,000 tonnes of wheat. That is up 2% from 462,200,000 in the previous crop year.
According to the IGC analysis, use of wheat for food in China in 2013-14 totaled 88,000,000 tonnes, against 87,500,000 in the previous season. By way of comparison, the U.S. processed 25,500,000 tonnes of wheat for food in 2013-14, compared with U.S. flour production in the 2013 calendar year of 19,257,000 tonnes. Assuming China matches the U.S. extraction rate of 75.5%, that country’s flour output would be about 66,000,000 tonnes of flour.
The U.S. flour output, which matches data previously available, may be joined with output in Mexico and Canada to arrive at production of North American mills. The latter in 2013 amounted to 24,813,000 tonnes of wheat flour, against 24,465,000 in 2012, an increase of 1.4%. Both Canada and the U.S. showed 1% gains in flour output in 2013 from the previous year, while Mexico posted a 3.9% gain to 3,322,000 tonnes. North American output in 2013 showed a 5.9% increase over 2000, boosted mainly by expansion of 26% in Mexico.
Major nations in Europe were mostly unchanged between 2012 and 2013 with the notable exception of Germany. Germany’s flour output climbed to 6,404,000 tonnes in 2013, up 14.4% from the prior year and 41% more than in 1995 before the Iron Curtain came down. French production in 2013 held steady with the prior year, but dropped 13.6% from 1995.
In Eastern Europe, Poland was the stellar performer in flour output, turning out 3,200,000 tonnes in 2013, an increase of 56.8% from the start of the 21st century and 73% more than in 1995.
Russia turned out 9,900,000 tonnes of wheat flour in 2013, down 2.9% from 2012 and 4.7% less than in 2000. Its output also recorded a drop of 32.1% from 1995, when Communism ruled the country.
Kazakhstan, a former Russian satellite, and now the world’s largest exporter of flour, is shown as turning out 3,881,000 tonnes in 2013. That was off 3.2% from 2012, but up 130.3% from 2000. The latest IGC forecast of Kazakhstan’s flour exports in 2014-15 was near 2,500,000 tonnes in wheat equivalent.
Ukraine, involved in a conflict with Russia, produced 2,542,000 tonnes of flour in 2013, off 4% from 2012.
Another country where exports are important to the milling business is Turkey, milling 8,334,000 tonnes of wheat flour in 2013. That was up 8.3% from the prior year, but fell 28% short of 2000.
Saudi Arabia reports output
For the first time in more than a decade, the IGC flour production report included output for Saudi Arabia. This country’s mills in 2013 turned out 2,555,000 tonnes of wheat flour, compared with 2,445,000 in 2012. It is the only country in the Middle East for which current output was reported.
Countries in Asia were among the main nations showing considerable increases, most notably in Indonesia. The latter nation turned out 5,150,000 tonnes of wheat flour in 2013, up 10.5% from 2012 and 83.3% more than in 2000. This was also the first time that Indonesia mills turned out more flour than produced in Japan, where the 2013 output was 4,868,000 tonnes, off 0.3% from 2012 and 5.6% more than in 2000.
The only country in North Africa for which flour output is reported is Tunisia, turning out 863,000 tonnes. The leading sub-Saharan producer reported was South Africa, milling 2,410,000 tonnes of flour, steady with the previous year. The only other major producer for which data are reported was Sudan, at 1,694,000 tonnes, up 16.8% from 2012.
South American production of wheat flour was dominated by Brazil, milling a total of 8,457,000 tonnes in 2013, up 3.6% from 2012 and 24.6% more than in 2000. Mills in Argentina turned out 3,765,000 tonnes, off 23.3% from the prior year due to a poor quality crop, but 44% more than in 2000. Chile milled 1,386,000 tonnes of flour, in line with prior years.
In compiling the flour production reports, the IGC emphasizes that the figures reflect flour output, not grind of wheat. The figures, the Council said, “are based on information supplied by member and non-member countries.” It added that the figures for most countries cover only commercial output in large mills. “They may, therefore, considerably underestimate total flour production, especially in developing nations,” the IGC noted.
