Article

Commodities: A mostly profitable week for pizza restaurateurs

The cheese stands alone as the sole item to go up in price last week. On top of that good news for pizza restaurateurs,all but one of the stocks QSRweb.com monitors gained in value last week.

July 25, 2016 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Aside from the growing price of cheese, last week went well for pizza restaurateurs on the markets, with most company stock prices up for the week and other commodity prices largely down. 

Cheese
The price of cheese continued its upward trend last week, ending Friday at $1.71—that's up a nickel from the previous Friday's close, which was $1.66.

Wheat
Wheat was $4.95 a bushel. That's down three cents from the previous week, but actually a return to the price experienced two weeks ago. 

Gasoline and diesel fuel
The price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas today is about $2.16 on average nationwide. That's down a nickel from the previous week and 15 cents from a month ago, when the price was $2.31. Last year the price was $2.72.

The story is about the same for other grades of fuel. For instance, mid-grade today is $2.44 nationally, down 4 cents from a week ago, 13 cents from last month and 53 cents lower than a year ago. For premium grade, today's price is $2.68 nationally, down 4 cents from a week ago, as well as 12 cents from a month ago and 53 cents from last year when a gallon was $3.16 on average. 

Diesel fuel is averaging about $2.34 a gallon nationally, down a penny from a week ago and 3 cents lower than last month. This time last year, a gallon of diesel 44 cents higher at $2.78. 

Natural gas
Maintenance on the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) that began earlier this week has led to production declines in the Appalachian and Northeast regions, according to PointLogic Energy. Pipeline maintenance began on Tuesday and was expected to last through today. The maintenance is part of the REX East-to-West Capacity Enhancement Project, which includes the installation of new compressor stations and additional power at existing stations. At maximum, an estimated 1.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of flows between Clarington, Ohio, and Shelbyville, Indiana will be curtailed.

Northeast and Appalachian natural gas production dropped 1.0 Bcf/d (4 percent) on Tuesday, the day the maintenance began, and then another 0.3 Bcf/d on Wednesday. According to PointLogic, most of the declines came from the Utica area in Ohio. Production in the region is likely to remain at relatively low levels until the maintenance is complete.Here's an overview of the week's prices and activity:

• Natural gas spot prices decreased at most locations this report week (Wednesday, July 13, to Wednesday, July 20). The Henry Hub spot price fell 9 cents, from $2.81 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $2.72/MMBtu yesterday.
• At the New York Mercantile Exchange, the near-month (August 2016) contract fell by about 8 cents over the report period, ending yesterday at $2.658/MMBtu.
• Net injections to working gas totaled 34 Bcf for the week ending, July 15. Working gas stocks are 3,277 Bcf, which is 17 percent greater than the year-ago level and 21 percent greater than the five-year (2011-15) average for this week.

Pizza company stocks
Shares in Pizza Hut parent, Yum! Brands Inc., closed Friday at $90.10, that's up $5.66 from the previous week's close and $2.20 higher than the previous day's close of $87.90.

Domino's was up again substantially this week, to $148.78. That's up $4.12 from the previous day and $13.67 from a week ago, when it was $135.11. 

Meanwhile, Papa John's fell to $73.25, off 9 cents from the previous day's close of $73.34, but still up substaintially from last week when it was $68.48.
    
Papa Murphy's was off a penny at $7.15 from the previous day and week, when the stock was going for $7.16. 

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.