The Commodity Kitchen with David Maloni
Twice a month, David Maloni serves up a fast, focused look at the world of commodities—covering everything from major food ingredients to energy and beyond. With over 30 years of experience advising some of the world’s largest commodity buyers, he brings unmatched insight and practical perspective to the table.
Each episode delivers a market update, the key news and trends he is watching, and insights from occasional guest experts in the food supply chain—all in under 15 minutes.
The Commodity Kitchen with David Maloni
Inflation Signals
In this episode, I review what’s changing across major commodity markets. Even though the Datum FS Commodity Index is still trading near two-year lows, I’m starting to see inflation creep back into several areas. I call out crude oil moving higher, the dollar being higher (not ideal for commodities), and grain markets staying generally rangebound. The clearest standout on the ag side is soybean oil, which I note is up 20% year over year and at a five-month high this week, with biodiesel demand as a major driver.
I also run through proteins and dairy. In dairy, I mention cheese blocks higher, barrels kind of flat, and butter sharply higher—while also noting cheese and butter are still down materially year over year. On proteins, I cover table eggs jumping $0.27/dozen this week, chicken markets firming (breasts and wings at multi-week highs), pork output up year over year with a cutout that’s been sideways but down month over month, and beef output down year over year with choice and select cutouts higher versus last year. I flag chicken breasts as moving through key technical resistance levels, and I close with consumer sentiment improving per the University of Michigan reading, along with a reminder that inflation can show up all at once—so staying close to the data matters.
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