“What interested me the most from this BEMA Intel report was that commercial bakery sales are generally up double digits (even while volumes are slightly down). This would seem to indicate that bakers are having some success in passing on the increased costs troubling the industry for many quarters.

At the same time, we see many input costs coming down in Q3 which, when coupled with 13% of pulse survey respondents saying supply chain is getting better, and a total of 60% who said supply is the same or better than Q2, it begins to feel like the worst of inflation and supply chain challenges are behind us.

This is further illustrated by the fact that equipment suppliers are less worried about supply chain compared to last quarter, but more worried about the strength of the US $ and the outlook for export markets.

Overall, we see a stable, but high (85%), positive outlook on the next six months in the baking industry. Nearly 50% of pulse survey respondents reported bookings and backlog were higher than Q2.