Retail all-purpose white flour prices loosely fluctuate with the farm value of hard red winter wheat

Retail prices for all-purpose white flour rose in 2024 for a third year in a row, albeit at a slower rate than they rose in 2022 and 2023. This ascent began in 2022 as global wheat prices increased with the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war. The product’s farm value—what wheat farmers receive per 1 pound of all-purpose white flour sold at grocery stores—rose 37.8 percent to 16.3 cents in 2022 from 11.8 cents in 2021. Retail prices simultaneously rose nearly 22.3 percent to 49.4 cents per pound in 2022 from 40.4 cents per pound in 2021. Retail prices continued to increase over the next two years even as wheat prices eased. In 2024, 1 pound of all-purpose white flour cost 56.5 cents at retail stores, and the farm value of the wheat in the flour was 10.5 cents. The farm share of the retail price—the ratio of what farmers receive to what consumers pay for a food product—was 18.5 percent in 2024, lower than the 33.0 percent in 2022. Between 2015 and 2023, the annual average farm share was 21 percent. Many factors contribute to retail food prices besides money paid to farmers for commodities, including costs for processing, packaging, transportation, and retailing. Retail prices can also have a delayed response to changes in farm prices. More information on farm share data can be found in the USDA, Economic Research Service Price Spreads from Farm to Consumer data product, updated in May 2025.