Article
Commodities: Pizza love at stock market, ingredients prices rising
It was a very good week for all but one of the pizza stocks monitored here last week, though the prices paid for essential pizza ingredients rose mostly.
October 24, 2016 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group
It was a very good week for all but one of the pizza stocks monitored here last week, though the prices paid for essential pizza ingredients rose mostly.
Cheese prices continued their ascent from weeks of declining prices, to end last week at $1.65, up about a dime from the previous week's close of $1.55, but still below early September levels that at one time grew to $1.72 on Sept. 7.
Wheat
Weekly export sales for wheat totaled 18.9 mb, which is above the 12.6 mb needed to keep up with USDA's projected pace. Shipments for wheat totaled 17.0 mb, slightly below the needed amount. The USDA said that this may be viewed as neutral for wheat.
Kansas City US No. 1 Hard Red Winter, ordinary protein rail bid was 10 to 16 cents higher from $4.18 to $4.83 per bushel. Kansas City US No. 2 Soft Red winter rail bid was not quoted. St. Louis truck US No 2 Soft Red Winter terminal bid was 8 cents higher at $4.02 per bushel. Minneapolis and Duluth US No. 1 Dark Northern Spring, 14 to 14.5 percent protein rail, was 4 1/4 to 9 1/4 cents higher from $6.56 1/4 to $6.66 1/4 per bushel. Portland US Soft White wheat rail was 9 cents lower to 2 cents higher from $4.52 to $4.77 per bushel.
Gasoline and diesel fuel
At the pump, we're mostly paying less than last week for vehicle fuel, but a bit more than last year at this time. Diesel fuel, however, bucked that trend by growing slightly in price over the week, but falling well below the price of diesel that we paid last year.
Regular unleaded gas was priced at an average of $2.22 a gallon, which is down two cents from last week, but up a cent from last month and last year at this time. Mid-grade was $2.49 this morning which is a cents lower than last week, but a cent higher than a month ago and a year ago. Premium fuel was $2.73 this morning — about a cent lower than last month, but three cents higher than last year. Diesel fuel took its own path, averaging out at about $2.42 today, the same as last week but fully 6 cents higher than a month ago, but 8 cents lower than this time last year when it was $2.50.
Natural gas
The weekly natural gas rig count increased by 11 during the week ending October 14, 2016, the highest in two years, according to Baker Hughes. There are now 105 active natural gas rigs in the United States.
Natural gas spot prices were mixed this report week (Oct. 12 -19). The Henry Hub spot price fell from $3.17 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $3.14/MMBtu yesterday. Net injections to working gas totaled 77 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ending Oct. 14. Working natural gas stocks are 3,836 Bcf, which is 1 percent greater than the year-ago level and 5 percent greater than the five-year (2011–15) average for this week.
The natural gas plant liquids composite price at Mont Belvieu, Texas, rose by 28 cents, closing at $6.19/MMBtu for the week ending Oct. 14. The price of ethane, propane, butane, and isobutane rose by 5, 4, 3, and 14 percent, respectively. The price of natural gasoline remained flat week over week.
The Henry Hub spot price fell 3 cents from $3.17/MMBtu last Wednesday to $3.14/MMBtu yesterday. At the Chicago Citygate, prices increased 3 cents from $3.15/MMBtu last Wednesday to $3.18/MMBtu yesterday. Prices at PG&E Citygate in Northern California fell 12 cents, down from $3.37/MMBtu last Wednesday to $3.25/MMBtu yesterday. The price at SoCal Citygate rose 24 cents from $3.03/MMBtu last Wednesday to $3.27/MMBtu yesterday. This is the first time prices at SoCal Citygate have been higher than prices at PG&E Citygate since August 16, 2016; the price differential between the two points averaged 41¢ over that period.
Total U.S. consumption of natural gas fell by 1 percent compared with the previous report week, according to data from PointLogic. Power burn was flat, averaging 25.6 Bcf/d week over week. However, this average masks large variations that occurred during the week: Power burn increased by more than 6 Bcf/d from Friday to yesterday. Industrial sector consumption decreased by 1 percent week over week. In the residential and commercial sectors, consumption declined by 2 percent. Natural gas exports to Mexico decreased 1 percent.
Pizza company stocks
Domino's Pizza closed up for the week at $166.36, from its previous Friday close of $151.12, while Pizza Hut parent, Yum Brands also closed up more than a buck at $87.98, along with Papa John's which closed the week at $80.45, up 47 cents from the previous week's close. In fact, Papa Murphy's was the only loser last week, ending at Friday's close at $5.90, off 4 cents from the previous week's close.
About S.A. Whitehead
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.
