
Flour mills working 'round the clock' to meet demand - pmoriarty
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52212760
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_bxg1
> Alex Waugh, director general of Nabim, says the issue isn't being able to
> mill enough flour - but the lack of capacity to pack it into small bags for
> retailers. Only around 4% of UK flour is sold through shops and
> supermarkets, according to the association. The majority is produced in bulk
> and delivered in tankers or bags of more than 16kg to bakeries or other food
> manufacturers.

So there's plenty of flour, it's just that small, home-sized bags used to be
4% of their sales and now that ratio has been flipped on its head and they
aren't yet equipped to _package_ it in that way.

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wbl
If 16kg bags are what you have sell them!

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swimfar
Definitely. 16 kg is a large quantity for someone who isn't sure how much they
are going to be baking. But it's not a lot of money. Easily less than 10
£/€/US$/AU$.

~~~
pfranz
I was staying home with my kid a few years ago and baking a loaf every week
among other things. I bought a larger bag of flour but didn't have a great
storage solution and it got bugs in it.

I'm in a privileged position, but to me it hurts more to toss something away
than to pay more for smaller portions.

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RileyJames
At least for Australia, flour was already in unusually short supply prior to
Coronavirus. Primarily due to drought.

[https://www.afr.com/companies/agriculture/drought-shrinks-
gr...](https://www.afr.com/companies/agriculture/drought-shrinks-grain-
harvest-to-decade-lows-20191020-p532cr)

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jasondclinton
Baking is such a wonderful way to relieve stress and there's so much chemistry
involved that it's great for geeks, too. A good book (available in ebook) is
The Bread Makers Apprentice:
[https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/39910](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/39910)

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klodolph
And as the article notes—the demand is not for _more flour_ but just a demand
for the same amount of flour but in _smaller bags_ which is exactly what you
would expect.

Bread-making is not such an alien or quaint skill set. People have either
already made bread, or know someone who makes it. We have friends or family
members who are into Martha Stewart, Food Network, or Bon Appétit.

Especially with the internet, we are not confused people who are panic buying
flour, but people who know (or can find out online) that making bread is not
especially challenging, it’s just time-consuming, and much of that time is
spent waiting. It’s hard to fit making bread into your schedule if you go to
work every day, but if you’re stuck at home anyway _and_ the store is low on
bread…

~~~
juanbyrge
The article is literally about a huge increase in demand for more flour by
consumers. The industry is "working round the clock" to meet demand. People
have a lot of extra time at home so they are baking a lot more, which they did
not do in the past. Thankfully there's enough wheat to meet the increased
demand, but the bottleneck is currently packaging.

I've personally had to order flour in bulk (50lb bags) online.

~~~
klodolph
> The article is literally about a huge increase in demand for more flour

Demand for flour from _grocery stores_ not overall demand for flour. From the
article:

> Grocery sales of flour were up 92%…

> Alex Waugh, director general of Nabim, says the issue isn't being able to
> mill enough flour - but the lack of capacity to pack it into small bags for
> retailers.

> Only around 4% of UK flour is sold through shops and supermarkets…

If you multiply that out, the bump in demand would only account for a 4%
increase in total flour consumption… but I’m willing to bet dollars to donuts
that flour consumption through some other channels (bakeries, restaurants) is
down, and you would need to account for that.

~~~
juanbyrge
I think you may be underestimating the sudden impact on the demand for flour
and wheat during the pandemic. There are two behaviors that did not exist too
much before. First, a vast number of consumers are suddenly stockpiling larger
quantities of not only flour but other nonperishable goods such as breads and
cereals and pastas. Before they only had enough quantity for days or weeks.
Now it is on the order of months. Second, people are baking a lot more as a
hobby/comfort food/stress relief than before the pandemic.

Certainly some channels have closed (like dine-in restaurants), but some are
still operating strongly (e.g. Dominos Pizza is experiencing massive increase
in demand).

> "We've increased production about four-fold but we're nowhere close to
> meeting the demand we've seen."

In terms of the overall impact on the flour/wheat market it's hard to tell,
but I'd be guessing that it's double-digit % increase in demand. It would be
interesting to see some exact numbers on this.

~~~
klodolph
What you’re describing is a shock to the supply chain and distribution, but
not a problem with the amount of flour. Any panic buying is temporary. Buyers
simply cannot exhaust our capacity to produce flour in the steady state, but
since the supply chain responds so slowly to changes, they can cause temporary
disruption.

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Exmoor
For anyone looking for flour, I suggest looking for stores that supply local
small businesses and restaurants with supplies. I stopped by my local "Smart
Food Service" (formerly Cash & Carry) for something else and noticed that they
appeared to have decent stock of all their flour. Although the sizes were
larger than you'd find at the grocery store, the overall price per pound was
cheaper.

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tonyedgecombe
Wessex mill is just down the road from me, I often buy my flour there although
can't at the moment because they closed their retail sales.

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RickJWagner
Since we've been cooped up in the house, my wife has been making fresh bread.

It's awesome. Brings a little bright spot to this cloudy situation.

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wbl
I don't get this. Don't resturaunts use flour and make bread? Why are stores
resistant to selling the industrial size bags?

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robjan
Restaurants in the UK (which the article is about) are currently closed, since
it's on lockdown. People want flour at home to make cakes and sourdough bread.

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pfundstein
At risk of stating the obvious, but the advantage of making _sourdough_ bread
specifically is that you don't need to buy yeast (which is also in short
supply), just flour, water, and salt.

~~~
remmargorp64
Don't forget the other three essential ingredients... The three T's: Time,
Temperature, and Technique

