Wheat Flour

Bakery & all-purpose grades by ash and protein, bagged

Flour is bought on ash and protein, and the ash number confuses more buyers than any other specification in the grain trade. Ash is the mineral residue left after incineration, and because minerals concentrate in the bran layers it is an indirect measure of how much bran came through the mill — that is, the extraction rate. Low ash at 0.50–0.55% means a white, refined flour taken at low extraction; higher ash at 0.75–0.85% means more of the wheat kernel is in the bag. It is a grade indicator, not a quality fault, which is why European mills label flour types by ash — T55, T65, T80 — and why a buyer specifying only protein has told the mill half of what it needs to know. Protein at 10.5–13% then sets the application, wet gluten confirms the protein's strength, and moisture is capped at 14.5% because flour above that will not keep.

Buying flour rather than wheat is a make-or-buy decision, and the honest answer depends on whether you have a mill. Importing flour removes milling cost, bran disposal and quality risk, and suits bakeries, biscuit plants and food-service distributors who want a consistent, ready-to-use input. Importing wheat and milling locally is cheaper per tonne of flour and gives you the bran and offals to sell into feed, but only if you already run the mill. Note also that flour has a shorter practical shelf life than wheat and is more sensitive to warm, humid transit — which is why the origin decision often comes down to freight time as much as price. CBIL brokers flour from Black Sea, Turkish and EU mills in 25 kg and 50 kg bags, container-load, certified for ash, protein, wet gluten, moisture and falling number. Send your ash target, your protein and the application and we will match the mill rather than the price alone.