Lower Oil Prices Lead to Big Dough for Pizzerias

Pizzeria owners will see a different type of dough rising this year as commodity prices continue to drop leading to an opportunity for higher profits.

The price at the pump may not bode well for Wall Street, but it should boost profits at pizzerias.

Gas prices dropped to an average of $2 per gallon nationally which is great news for your pizza delivery costs.  This compares to a price of $3.34 per gallon just two years ago. (more…)

Hog and Pork Prices Return to Reality

After reaching never before seen prices the hog and pork markets have come back to reality.​
By: Chris Hurt, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University 

When historians look back on hog prices in 2014, they are going to ask, “What was going on?” Hog and pork prices were launched to almost unexplainable heights by concerns over reduced pork supplies from PED in the spring and summer. More recently, prices have been in descent and now have returned to more realistic levels.

The high price period began to emerge in mid-February of 2014 as media attention began to focus on the death losses from the PED virus. There were media descriptions of nearly 100 percent death losses in some herds with a disease that was spreading rapidly to other herds. There were “rumors” of the possibility of 20 percent reductions in pork supplies. Hog prices shot higher!

By late-March, live hog prices reached near their yearly highs of $98 per live hundredweight. The extraordinary fact is that this was nearly $40 higher than the same time a year earlier, or about 70 percent above year-ago prices. Prices continued to be sharply above year-earlier levels for the spring, summer and into the fall. From March through mid-October, live hog prices this year averaged $86 compared to $68 for the same period in 2013.

Live hog prices are expected to average about $67 to $68 in the final quarter of this year and through the winter. The highest prices for next year are expected in the second quarter, averaging near $70, but then falling to the mid-$60 in the summer and down to the mid-$50s by the fall as pork supplies continue to increase. read more … http://bit.ly/1MHk12Z

Pork-Belly Corn Dogs on Menu as U.S. Hog Herd Expands

By Megan Durisin and Yunita Ong

More than half the meat budget at the barbecue restaurant Gabe Garza runs in Chicago normally goes to pork. This year, he’s buying even more.

With pork production in the U.S. heading for an all-time high, wholesale prices have fallen about 40 percent since last July. As a result, Garza’s Chicago Q restaurant will buy 113,550 pounds (51.5 metric tons) in 2015, 14 percent more than last year. A half-dozen new items are also on the menu, including pork-belly corn dogs and pulled-pork macaroni and cheese. (more…)

Liguria Foods – March 2015 Newsletter

The Liguria Foods March Newsletter is out, please click the link below to read about the following topics:

  • How Would You Like Your Pepperoni?
  • Customer Profile: Big Mama’s and Papa’s Pizzeria- Living the American Dream
  • Product Showcase: Liguria All-Natural Pepperoni
  • Protein Market Outlook
  • Pizza News Briefs

Liguria Newsletter March 2015

Amer Rest Assoc – Market News – Lot’s of Piggies

Not to be lost during the recent wonderful holiday season: the USDA’s quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report, which came out just before Christmas.  As of Dec. 1, the U.S. hog and pig inventory  was 2 percent larger than the previous year but still .3 percent smaller than 2012.  The really good news was that despite PEDv, hog producers expanded the herd during the last year at levels that mirror my waistline after the holidays.  The Dec. 1 swine breeding herd was a whopping 3.7 bigger than the prior year, the largest annual gain since the Broncos were on their way to their first Super Bowl win in 1997.  Good news for pork buyers.  From The Maloni Report and www.AmericanRestaurantAssociation.com.

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