BISMARCK, N.D. – The North Dakota Mill and Elevator set a record in October for flour shipments in a single month and posted its second-highest first-quarter profit ever from July to September, General Manager Vance Taylor said Thursday.
The state-owned mill in Grand Forks shipped a record 1.2 million hundredweight in October, Taylor told the state Industrial Commission, which oversees the mill. “We do continue to see strong customer demand,” he said.
Profits of nearly $3.4 million for the mill’s first quarter of 2015 – the three months ending Sept. 30 – were second only to the first quarter of 2014, when the mill posted a record $4.5 million profit.
Taylor attributed the 25 percent year-over-year drop in profits mainly to lower grain prices. The price of grain settled with suppliers at the mill during the quarter was $1.03 per bushel less than in first quarter of 2014, he said.
Taylor also updated the commission on the progress of a $27 million expansion project that will boost production capacity by about 30 percent and make it the single largest milling operation in the country. The project is on track for completion around mid-summer 2016, he said.
