Every flour mill faces a plethora of challenges affecting its business
operations. Some of the challenges may include inconsistent flour quality, need
to enchance flour quality, raw material price fluctuations, wheat purchasing
costs, non-optimal flour extraction rates, new product development, and need to
innovate. All these desirable business outcomes are connected to three main
decision criteria: wheat sourcing, wheat gristing and flour correction. The
interrelationship between these three factors and business outcomes are
depicted in picture below :
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| Optimization of grists costs and flour baking performance |
Depicts the interrelationship between wheat sourcing, wheat gristing,
flour correction and major business deliverables or expected outcomes from a
mill. Together, these factors and outcomes can help optimize costs, standardize
flour performance and support new product development. Because of their
performance predictability, baking enzymes are also an attractive option during
gristing consideration at the flour mill.
Smart purchasing of wheat is vital for the profitable and sustainable
running of any flour mill because it is intrinsically linked with grain price
through mill operational protocols and customer expectations. Wheat procurement
and purchase, however, involve both risk and considerable amount of investment
both in time and mony.
The fact that wheat has become a major commodity in world markets can
result in high price volatility. It therefore becomes more important to
purchase through reputable exporters or intermediaries. Inherent knowledge of
the origin, source and specification of any given wheat is also extremely
important.
Contracts involving international transportation often contain abbreviated
trade terms that determines which party (buyer or seller) owns the
responsibility for the loading, shipping and insurance costs as well as when
the risk of loss shifts from the seller to the buyer. Generally speaking, most
wheat is traded in a FOB (Free on Board) basis-wherein the sale is considered
complete at the seller’s shipping dock and thus the buyer is responsible for
freight costs and liability (also known as FOB-origin).
Other contract terms exists. Buyers who want to avoid the hassles of chartering
vessels may want to consider CFR (Cost and Freight) or CIF arranges for the
carriage of goods by sea to a port of destination and provides the buyer with
the documents necessary to obtain the goods from the carrier. Same is true for CIF,
the difference being in that the latter the seller is responsible for buying
marine insurance against the risk of loss or damage to the goods during transit
(liability), whereas in the former contract type this is not the case.
Traditionally, FOB prices for wheat are quoted is US dollars with
payment made in the same currency against a Letter of Credit (LC). The LC
incurs higher bank charges but also assures the seller that the shipment will
be paid for. Buyers and sellers who have over the years developed an understanding
may consider direct payment to save costs.
The number of wheat varieties and sources is both diverse and
convoluted with the geographical position of each mill largely determining
which wheat they can source. In an ideal world, each company would be able to
construct a wheat buying matrix similar to the one in Table below :
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| Wheat buying matrix based on the cost at 1st break |
There are many ways to understand and thus adopt the approach to wheat
purchasing as shown in table above, both moisture and extraction rate have been
allocated a predetermined value of 12% and 80% respectively, extensive
knowledge and experience has shown this to be an excellent starting point for
comparison.
The link between test weight (TW) and extraction rate is well
documented and facilitates the introduction of ‘cost at 1st break’. In
other words, it reflects how much it costs each mill to get the wheat from
purchase source onto their 1st break rollers. The number of mutable
parameters is many and varied. Further, moisture and foreign matter (FM), the
cost of shipping water and screenings across the globe may soon add up.
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| Cost Calculation at 1st break |
At first glance looking only at protein and the subsequent FOB price for the two wheats in picture above. It appears that the German 12 is not only cheaper but potentially the most economical choice-particularly with a USD 32 spread. The breakdown of cost, however, is not quite as simple as that. Once additional freight charges come into play, an allowance is made for nearly double the level of screenings and when the lower TW and resulting loss in extraction is taken into account, the actual bottom line cost comes out in favor of AH 12.
Cost at 1st break is just one way of predetermining cost. There
are many others-1st break raw, protein on a moisture free basis
(MFB), wet gluten (WG), extraction ration and even baking score-which allude to
end user considerations and expectations.
The primary driver behind sustainable wheat sourcing has always been
to achieve a reduction in protein costs and to attain a positive result in mill
profitability by doing so.
The combination of a number of wheat from various origins in the
gristing process is fairly common practice in the milling industry. Picture
below illustrates the potential savings per annum by switching from a 100%
German grist to one that contains a blend with 30% Russian. The spread in the
FOB price and the resulting cost per ton of flour opens a window of
opportunity, allowing a 70:30 combination to perform on an equal footing in
terms of quality, performance, stability and fermentation tolerance. Experience
has shown this can be achieved by incorporating micro ingredients to the value
of USD 3, which in this example generates a delta saving of USD 14 per ton of
flour and a substantial benefit to the bottom line.
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| Maintaining baking performance of wheat flours with lower protein (example) |
From a more contextual viewpoint, the wheat procurement officer
deliberating about switching from his current wheat to one than that is USD 30,
USD 20 or even USD 10 less expensive
might want to consider that an enzymatic solution somewhere in the range
of USD 5 – USD 10 of micro ingredients in the vast majority of cases will be
able to bridge the gap in quality. It will not only drive down wheat purchasing
costs but also drive up profitability.
In essence, the concept of unlocking full baking potential of flour is
based in rationalizing and utilizing knowledge of wheat costing, wheat quality
and understanding enzyme functionality to be able to produce flour with desired
characteristics in a cost-effective manner.
A constant challenge for millers is to produce flour with consistent
baking properties. In addition, they face the challenge of manufacturing a
large range of flour types and managing production costs. By supplementing
flour with additives and processing aids, millers can address these issues.
Flour correction is the supplementation of flour using certain micro
ingredients, chiefly ascorbic acid, malt, soya flour, vital wheat gluten, and
enzymes, to attain consistent baking performance. Further, they help develop
new products with enhanced properties to meet the demands of bakeries,
confectionery
Further. they help develop new products with enhanced properties to
meet the demands of bakeries. confectionery producers. pasta manufacturers and
others. The main drivers for flour correction include the following:
1. inconsistent wheat quality arising from genotypic differences
combined with agronomic growing conditions and environmental effects
2. Need to standardize flour performance to produce bread or other
wheat-based products with consistent quality
3. Lack of flexibility to improve flour quality in industrial bakeries
4. End user requirements for different flours to produce an extensive
range of products
5. Cost savings from flour performance upgrade
There are a number of factors which should be taken into consideration
when flour correction treatment is applied:
1.Flour specifications and standards in the target market
2. Availability of test bakery
3. Availability of instrumentation for measuring flour quality
(Farinograph. Alveograph, Mixolab, Falling Number Test, Extensograph, etc.)
4. Predominant dough making procedures and the assortment of baked
products
5. Local food ingredient regulations i.e., list of permitted food
ingredients and flour improver habits in bread improver applications in industrial
and artisanal bakeries (types, formulations, dosages, performance, etc)
6. Main concerns and needs of flour among end-users in relation to the
finished product requirements
Success of flour correction depends on close cooperation between flour
mill and flour buyer (industrial bakery, artisan bakery, pasta factory, biscuit
factory, frozen dough producer, etc.). good knowledge of end user needs and
requirements regarding flour quality. and expertise to manage flour functionality
to achieve the desired properties.
Flour treatment is carried out for two main purposes:
1. Flour adjustment to diminish the effects of inconsistent wheat
quality variations in grist composition - with the view that different
grists deliver agreed and stable quality
2. Production of specialty flours for different end users
Ingredients used at flour mills and bakeries are often the same. The
main difference lies in the dosages range: 10-100 ppm at the mill; >
100 ppm at the bakery. It is therefore, critical to maintain dosage levels of
enzymes and other micro ingredients being incorporated at the flour mill to
moderate amounts to realize efficient flour correction and prevent their
overdosing at the bakeries.
Enzymes not only aid in flour improvement, but also in providing an
efficient and natural way to cope with raw material cost and quality
fluctuations.
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