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Commodities: Cheese, wheat, gas prices falling

Now is a good time to buy cheese, wheat and gas, considering prices have dropped for all three commodities

October 19, 2015 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com

Now is a good time to buy cheese, wheat and gas, considering prices have dropped for all three commodities. Details are below.

Cheese

Average block cheese prices dropped a bit last week on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Prices were $1.70 Monday, $1.69 Tuesday, $1.69 Wednesday, $1.68 Thursday and $1.66 Friday. The previous week's prices were $1.80 Monday, $1.74 Tuesday, $1.73 Wednesday, $1.67 Thursday and $1.70 Friday.

Wheat

Wheat prices dropped last week to $5.12 on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, down from $5.30 the previous week.

Wheat closed at $10.25 Tuesday, $10.05 Wednesday, $10.19 Thursday and $10.60 Friday.

Gasoline and diesel fuel

Monday's nationwide average for regular unleaded gasoline decreased to $2.25, down from $2.31 the previous week, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.

Prices are down from $2.29 a month ago, and are significantly lower than this time last year, when consumers were paying $3.13 at the pump.

Mid-range unleaded is down six cents from $2.58 to $2.52, while Monday's premium unleaded price was $2.75, down 5 cents from last week.

The nationwide average for diesel fuel increased to $2.52, down a penny from $2.52 last week. Diesel prices are also down from $2.54 a month ago, and are more than $1 down from a year ago, when prices were $3.63.

Natural Gas

Natural gas prices showed little overall change at most market locations last week The Henry Hub spot price fell slightly from $2.46 per million British thermal units last Wednesday to $2.44/MMBtu Sunday.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange, the price of the near-month (November 2014) futures contract rose from $2.474/MMBtu last Wednesday to $2.518/MMBtu Sunday.

Pizza company stocks

Shares in Pizza Hut parent Yum! Brands Inc. closed Friday at $72.51, up from last week's $70.30.

Domino's finished last week at $106.22, nearly a $1 higher than last week's $105.40.

Papa John's dropped two cents, closing Friday at $68.28. It came in at $68.30 the previous week.

Shares in Papa Murphy's have dropped for the past several weeks, closing at 13.99, down from last week's $14.81. Four weeks ago it closed at $16.40.

About Cherryh Cansler

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Cherryh Cansler is VP of Events for Networld Media Group and publisher of FastCasual.com. She has been covering the restaurant industry since 2012. Her byline has appeared in Forbes, The Kansas City Star and American Fitness magazine, among many others.

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