Regional and Sectoral Analysis of the Wheat-Flour Economy: A Transportation Study

Report Introduction: Rates for hauling wheat have declined relative to those for flour, so the least-cost location pattern of the milling industry has shifted toward a market orientation, moving away from the rail transshipment orientation it exhibited for many years. Industry reorientation (relocation) contains a wide variety of implications pertaining not only to the milling industry itself but also to the different regions and sectors of the wheat-flour economy. The three main sections of this report serve to fulfill its three main purposes. First, a change in the relationship between rates for hauling wheat and flour is discussed in terms of the effect the change produces in the cost advantage of the present location of the flour milling industry. Second, an analytical framework is developed that identifies relationships between transportation rates and the different sectors and regions of the wheat-flour economy. Implementation of the framework quantifies some of the relationships. Finally, results obtained under alternative assumptions about transportation rates and valuations of flour are presented and interpreted in terms of implications they contain for the different sectors and regions of the wheat-flour economy.