N.D. state flour mill profits slump in third quarter

BISMARCK — Hammered by higher wheat prices and softening demand for flour, profits at North Dakota’s state Mill and Elevator plummeted to $130,456 during the first three months of the year.

Vance Taylor, in a report Thursday to the state Industrial Commission, said he expects the mill’s profit outlook to remain difficult as it closes out its annual budget period in June.

“We foresee additional challenges with the continued high grain costs, coupled with a somewhat slack demand (for flour) that we’re seeing for this time of year, due to the high prices and general economic conditions,” Taylor said.

During January, February and March of 2007, the mill’s profit totaled $1.3 million.

Its nine-month profit figure, however, is comparable to the number recorded during the same period a year ago. From July 2007 through March 2008, the mill has earned $3.02 million, compared to $3.13 million the year before, according to a report presented to the commission Thursday.

Higher grain prices have resulted in a sharp rise in sales, even as the mill’s profitability has declined. The Grand Forks mill recorded $73.4 million in sales during January, February and March, compared to almost $40 million in sales during the same three months the year before.

Flour shipments for January through March totaled 2.26 million hundredweight, a 4.9 percent decline from the same quarter in 2007, when 2.38 million cwt were shipped.

Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson, Gov. John Hoeven and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem make up the Industrial Commission, which is the mill’s board of directors.

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