The price of flour is rising

16 years ago

This was a news item from Wegman's email today

Bread Is Rising

Mary Ellen Burris 1/24/2008

ItÂs usually yeast that causes bread to rise, but lately, leavening in bread is the least of our worries. The cost of flour is still going up and up! Our bakery experts tell me they have had to put through another round of bakery price increases. This time our popular "Giant-sized" variety sliced sandwich bread is going up 20 cents. Other packaged breads are up 10 to 30 cents. In-store baked breads are up 10 to 50 cents; sheet cakes are affected, too.

IÂve written before about the reasons. A recent article in Fortune magazine described the flour market as "a perfect storm." Poor wheat harvests domestically and abroad reduced the supply; drought, floods and low carry-over stocks from previous harvests sent prices soaring. Additionally, farmers were shifting their wheat fields to corn to net better prices, thanks to government subsidy for corn-derived ethanol for fuel. On the demand supply, the exploding economies of China and India lead to more grain consumption (as people have more money, they eat more meat, which takes more grain to produce). And the weak U.S. dollar makes our farm exports more attractive in the global market. Increased fuel prices mean more costly shipping of wheat and flour.

Current prices are the highest we have ever paid in our own bakeshop. Other bakeries and other products are similarly affected, so prices everywhere are going up. Example: National brand packaged products such as bags of flour, cake mixes, etc. One national brand flour supplier has given us multiple cost increases totaling 37%.

ItÂs not a pretty picture, and we know your gas bills, tax bills, and holiday bills are all due, too. We remain committed to being priced competitively, so you wonÂt have to pay more to shop with us!

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Comments (11)

grainlady_ks
16 years ago
This is where milling your own flour from whole grains really pays..... As well as having hundreds of pounds of wheat in storage that were either cheap or free. -Grainlady
donnar57
16 years ago
I noticed this past holiday season, that Gold Medal flour didn't hit its usual low of .79 for a 5-lb bag. I think the lowest it got was .99 here, but it didn't stay that way for long.

The cheap brands here were $1.79 a bag yesterday for both all-purpose flour and bread flour. I think Gold Medal and some of the other brands were higher that that, but I needed bread flour.

I just bought a small amount of Vital Wheat Gluten Flour at Henry's (like a Sprout's, for some of you), for $2.49/lb.

DonnaR/CA
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User
16 years ago
All-purpose flour (5#)at Marc's is 2/$3 ... rye, whole wheat is averaging between $2.99 and $3.99 for 5 pounds, still baking my own bread is cheaper than buying a loaf.

The other day they said wheat was at $10 a bushel.
donnar57
16 years ago
I wrote that $1.79 on January 27th. In the store today, looking for regular flour and bread flour -

Grocery store brand has gone up to $2.69/5 lb bag.

Gold Medal brand was $2.89/5 lb bag. This was at my regular store. Regular all-purpose Gold Medal was on special at Vons (Safeway) for 4/$5 ($1.25/5 lbs) but they did NOT have any Better for Bread at that price.

WalMart's price was $2.49/5 lb bag of Gold Medal. Yipes.

DonnaR/CA
lindac
16 years ago
And so is the price of corn and beans and salad crops and beef and chickens etc.
It's all due to the cost of oil.
Not sure milling your own will help...you still have to buy the grain and pay for the energy to grind the wheat...
I sould like the "little Red Hen...but it's true!
Linda C
laceyvail 6A, WV
16 years ago
It's only partially due to the cost of oil. Much of it is due to the fact that farmers who formerly grew wheat have switched to corn for bio fuel, and because about 20 percent of the corn crop is going to bio fuel, that's why prices of beef (feed lotted), chicken, and dairy products are rising.

Yesterday on NPR, I heard a baker whose wheat flour had gone in one year from $18.50 a bag to $54.
danab_z9_la
16 years ago
US farmers had a good and record crop of grains this year. It is already forecasted that grain needs for next year will exceed the amount that farmers were able to supply this year. That increased demand alone will continue to raise food prices. However, should bad weather ruin any crops this spring lord help us with what we all will be paying for our food. We Americans have been spoiled for many years with low food prices. We will all pay dearly for Washington's rush to help out the farmers with those ethanol subsidies. It makes absolutely no sense (other than political) to turn food products into fuel when grain products are in short supply.

Dan
triciae
16 years ago
I receive a lot of economic stuff, via email, because of DH. I was just reading a report from the bank's economist this morning that contained this...

"...several retailers warned that customers are trading down to save money, buying chicken instead of steak, burgers instead of chicken. This is consistent with the recent drop in gasoline sales (volume, not dollars) as well. Consumers are finally feeling the pinch of food and energy prices to an extent that is forcing behavioral change."

Right now, oil is trading at 107.73. DH tells me that they are seeing more & more people use CCs to pay for groceries. They are also receiving more applications for 'Pay Day' loans. Their application drop-out rate for mortgages has risen to over 40% because of excess debt (25-30% is considered normal for his conservative shop).

He told me yesterday that discussion of heating oil prices has replaced Britney & Paris in the company lunch room.

Even though I don't stock pile grains anymore we do still maintain a rotating food storage program. In anticipation of continuing higher & higher food prices I'm going to start moving my storage away from luxury goodies & increase the basics. I'm also going to get DH to help me fill-up both our Excalibur dehydrators with granola. I've got a 5-rack & an 8-rack. My granola is darn near a complete meal. I use rolled oats, rolled triticale, dry milk powder, wheat germ, peanut butter, molasses, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, almonds, pumpkin seeds, & sunflower seeds as a base & then add lots of dried fruit after it comes out of the dehydrator. Vac-packed & stored in the freezer, it lasts a year. If food get too high we can always eat granola! lol

/tricia
dgkritch
16 years ago
/tricia, do you have a specific recipe for your granola you'd be willing to share?

TIA,
Deanna
triciae
16 years ago
Deanna,

No, I don't really use a recipe. I did many years ago but it's 'evolved' over time. lol

I start with 12 cups of rolled oats & 6 cups of rolled triticale. To that, I add stuff in quantities of 2 cups for these ingredients...2 cups of Carnation Dry Milk Powder, 2 cups of peanut butter, 2 cups of honey, 2 cups of almonds, & 2 cups of pumpkin seeds because they're bulky. Then, I use about 1/2 cup molasses, a cup of raw sunflower seeds, 2-3 tablespoons of cinnamon, & 2-3 nutmegs depending on size. The oil is usually between 1-2 cups. I add it last & only use enough to bind everything nicely together. After it's dried I add some combination of dried apples, apricots, pineapple, raisins, dates, papaya, or figs. It's not an exact science by any means. It sure is good though. In my dehydrators, at 140 degrees, it takes 5-6 hours to dry thoroughly. This makes a lot of granola...enough to last DH & I about 6 months. When the 3 kids were home we'd blow through a batch every 6 weeks, or so.

/tricia
trudy_gw
16 years ago
Living in Iowa and seeing all of our corn, bean and wheat fields being turned into housing divisions is sad, no wonder farms cant meet the demand.

Would it not be smarter to make our own fuel rather than depend on other countries. In an organic magazine last week, they had an article how we are using 2 barrels of fuel to every one barrel that is produced. Now not that I really now what is going on, but it all just doesnt make sense.

My moms friend passed away a year ago, his farm is being sold in an auction in a few weeks, well its prime land for a sub-division for a housing project.....even though the housing market is down, I am afraid that a farmer wont be abe to buy it, but a builder will. End of the growing era for this farm..........and dont think it will ever produce farm products again.

The price of flour is rising

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donnar57

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