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Commodities: 3 brands get National Pizza Month gifts from investors

While commodity trading was a mixed bag last week, pizza investors were in a good mood and plunged some of their cash into three of the four brands monitored here weekly, just in time for the start of National Pizza Month.

October 1, 2018 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Happy pizza month, America. The pie-praising annual salute that started today couldn't have gotten off to a better start for all but one of the brands monitored here weekly. Three of the four pizza chains got early birthday presents from investors last Friday who helped push the trio up nicely in price. Commodity prices were no in the birthday mood, but there's always a few party poopers at any celebration. 

Cheese

In cheese trading last week, barrels closed at $1.3825, while 40-pound blocks ended up at $1.69. The weekly average for barrels is $1.3800, which is off .0135. Blocks averaged $1.6560, which is up .0390, according to the U.S.D.A. Agricultural Marketing Service.

Cheese production is mixed in the Midwest and Northeast, as milk availability in both those regions is down. Northeastern and Western pizza cheesemakers report heavy production, and milk handlers in the Midwest relay gift/packaged cheese style manufacturers are increasing intakes of milk. 

Freight continues to be a large and growing concern among cheesemakers, particularly those who haul outside of their states. Demand and overall cheese market tone is mixed, though a number of cheesemakers report growing customer bases. But, barrel prices have caused some hesitation among current purchasing. 

Wheat

Cash bids for wheat were mixed last week with prices ranging from 11 cents lower to 13 cents higher, according to the U.S.D.A. Kansas City U.S. No. 1 Hard Red Winter, ordinary protein rail bid was 9 3/4 cents lower, from $5.82 1/4-$5.97 1/4 per bushel. Kansas City U.S. No. 2 Soft Red winter rail bid was not quoted.  

St. Louis truck U.S. No. 2 Soft Red Winter terminal bid was 2 to 11 cents lower, from $4.73-$4.83 per bushel. Minneapolis and Duluth U.S. No. 1 Dark Northern Spring, 14.0 to 14.5 percent protein rail, was 8 1/2 cents lower to 1 1/2 cents higher, at $6.65 per bushel. Portland U.S. Soft White wheat rail was steady to 13 cents higher, from $5.90-$6.18 per bushel.

Vehicle fuel 

If your fleet runs on diesel, you have our sympathies, as prices are rising much faster than those for gasoline and even, E85. For instance, the latest per gallon charge for diesel today, according to AAA, was $3.21, a nickel higher than last month's price and a whopping 49 cents a gallon higher than what we paid last year at this time. 

Prices for gasoline were better, but not hugely so. The average price of a gallon of regular today was $2.88, up 4 cents from last month. E85 fuel was the slowest-rising price at $2.43 this morning, up three cents from last month. E85 and all gas grades were up on average about 30 cents over last year's prices for each. 

Natural gas

Natural gas spot price movements were mixed for the seven days ending on Wednesday, Sept. 26. Henry Hub spot prices rose from $3.06 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) to $3.13/MMBtu over that period. At the New York Mercantile Exchange, the October 2018 contract expired last Wednesday at $3.021/MMBtu. The November 2018 contract price increased to $2.980/MMBtu, up 10 cents over the period. 

Net injections to working gas totaled 46 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ending Sept. 21. Working natural gas stocks are 2,768 Bcf, which is 20 percent lower than the year-ago level and 18 percent lower than the five-year (2013-17) average for this week.

The natural gas plant liquids composite price at Mont Belvieu, Texas, fell by 48 cents, averaging $10.37/MMBtu for the week ending Sept. 26. The price of ethane and isobutane fell by 11 percent. The price of propane fell by 1percent and the price of natural gasoline rose by 3 percent, while butane prices were flat week over week.

According to Baker Hughes, for the week ending Tuesday, Sept.18, the natural gas rig count remained flat at 186. The number of oil-directed rigs fell by one to 866. The total rig count decreased by two, and it now stands at 1,053.

Pizza company stocks

Domino's stacked up a healthy $8.58 uptick in its price over last week's trading, ending the week at $294.80. And, amid rumors of a possible sale, Papa John's did nicely over the week's trading as well, rising from $46.23 to $51.28 from Friday to Friday. 

Pizza Hut parent, Yum Brands, even managed a nice $1.38 bump up in price, closing Friday at $90.91. In fact, the only loser on the week was Papa Murphy's, where investors pulled back some last week, dropping the brand's value to $5.19 Friday, down 21 cents from the previous week's close. 

Photo: iStock
 

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.