Direction charts for plant input costs — flour/masa feedstocks, oils and shortening,
freight fuel, oven gas, and lard. Free TradingView embeds cannot show most CME futures contracts
(licensing), so most cards use a liquid U.S. commodity ETF as an on-page chart, with an
Open CME futures on TradingView link (new tab) for the actual contract.
The Lard card uses the BLS producer price index via FRED. Not cash flour/masa quotes. Not investment advice.
Why plants watch these
Tortilla manufacturers live in the spread between finished-goods pricing and input costs.
Soft-wheat and hard-wheat flour (and masa from corn) dominate the bill of materials;
vegetable oils and shortening drive frying and bake-line costs; natural gas powers ovens and plant heat;
diesel (ULSD) shows up in inbound ingredients and outbound freight.
Lard and animal fat still matter for some formulations — the Lard card charts the BLS producer
price index (FRED) rather than a futures proxy.
Wheat (flour direction)
Hard-wheat flour pressure for wheat tortillas and wraps — chart uses the liquid WEAT ETF as an embeddable direction proxy.
Chart summary: a daily price line for the WEAT wheat fund, used here as a rough guide to which way wheat and flour costs are moving. A rising line means wheat has gotten more expensive over the period shown; a falling line means it has gotten cheaper. It is not a flour price. Current prices are on TradingView through the link below.
Embedded: AMEX:WEAT (Teucrium Wheat). CME flour-relevant futures: KE1! / ZW1! (not available in free TradingView embeds).
Corn feedstock direction for nixtamal and dry-masa plants — chart uses the liquid CORN ETF as an embeddable proxy.
Chart summary: a daily price line for the CORN fund, used here as a rough guide to which way corn and masa costs are moving. A rising line means corn has gotten more expensive over the period shown; a falling line means it has gotten cheaper. It is not a masa price. Current prices are on TradingView through the link below.
Embedded: AMEX:CORN (Teucrium Corn). CME corn futures: ZC1! (blocked in free TradingView site embeds).
Vegetable oil and shortening direction for frying and bake lines — chart uses SOYB (soybean complex). Soybean oil futures themselves are embed-blocked.
Chart summary: a daily price line for the SOYB soybean fund, used here as a rough guide to which way vegetable oil and shortening costs are moving. A rising line means soybeans have gotten more expensive over the period shown; a falling line means they have gotten cheaper. Current prices are on TradingView through the link below.
Freight and energy direction for inbound ingredients and outbound loads — chart uses UGA (gasoline ETF), closer to road fuel than crude. Heating oil / ULSD futures stay one click away.
Chart summary: a daily price line for the UGA gasoline fund, used here as a rough guide to which way fuel and freight costs are moving. A rising line means gasoline has gotten more expensive over the period shown; a falling line means it has gotten cheaper. It is not a diesel price. Current prices are on TradingView through the link below.
Embedded: AMEX:UGA (gasoline ETF) as a road-fuel / freight direction proxy. CME heating oil / ULSD proxy futures: HO1!. (USO crude also works as AMEX:USO.)
Oven and plant heat costs — chart uses the liquid UNG ETF as an embeddable direction proxy.
Chart summary: a daily price line for the UNG natural gas fund, used here as a rough guide to which way oven and plant energy costs are moving. A rising line means natural gas has gotten more expensive over the period shown; a falling line means it has gotten cheaper. It is not a utility rate. Current prices are on TradingView through the link below.
Embedded: AMEX:UNG (US Natural Gas Fund). CME Henry Hub futures: NG1!.
BLS producer price index for lard, inedible tallow, and other greases (ex-wool grease) — useful for plants still running animal-fat formulations. Monthly index, not a cash spot quote or futures contract.
Chart summary: a monthly line of the government producer price index for lard, inedible tallow and other greases over the last five years. A rising line means producers are charging more; a falling line means they are charging less. The full numbers are on FRED through the link below.
Chart: FRED PCU3116133116132 — last 5 years of the Producer Price Index by Industry: Rendering and Meat Byproduct Processing: Lard, Inedible Tallow, and Other Greases, Excluding Wool Grease (BLS; monthly, not seasonally adjusted). Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis / BLS. Click the chart for the interactive series.
