Wheat prices retreat from highs but remain elevated

Yahoo Finance's Brian Cheung breaks down the chart of the day.

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BRIAN CHEUNG: Want to shift now to our chart of the day. Today, we are looking at wheat prices. And you heard earlier in the month that prices are on the rise, that was the big spike that you're seeing in this chart, which is year to date. Futures have shown prices coming down from those highs although they remain elevated.

And the Biden administration has committed itself doing what it can. And it has some power because the United States is actually the third largest producer of wheat. But businesses still feeling the pain not just because of the wheat prices themselves.

I snapped this photo, actually, near my hometown this weekend. This is from a bagel shop in Randolph, New Jersey, not far from my hometown. I tweeted this out and there's a bit at the bottom of this note that was posted that said getting the flour just 30 miles from Paterson, New Jersey to Randolph is getting more expensive because of the high cost of diesel.

So Akiko, I mean, it's just interesting to talk about the commodity space. We know everything across the board is getting more expensive, but even when prices in one commodity field gets alleviated, that doesn't mean that the transport gets any easier. So I don't know if you've noticed this. I know you're in California, which means you've never had a true bagel, but, you know, it's getting more expensive at least here on the East Coast.

AKIKO FUJITA: Brian, I'm never going to disagree with you on that. Bagels are 100% better in New York. There is no debate there.

But I mean I'm thinking that I'm a person who loves gluten-- I mean, I guess anybody who knows me knows that-- but that's a big concern. I mean, you're talking about your local bagel shop and people seeing that right up front. You're talking about the supply in the US, but obviously when you think about wheat globally there is going to be a shortage.

And we've talked about this for the last month, because Russia is the largest exporter for wheat. You combine that with the supply coming in from Ukraine, that's a huge, huge shortage that we're seeing play out across the world, not just in the US. So that's a commodity that we don't often talk about, but one that increasingly is getting attention or has gotten attention because of what's been playing out between Russia and Ukraine.

And obviously, Brian, you layer that on top of high energy prices, I mean, that really just keeps bringing the cost for the average consumer higher and higher.

BRIAN CHEUNG: What is it Courage Bagel? Is that the big one in LA that everyone loves to go to or is that Burger Village or--

AKIKO FUJITA: I should be careful. It's not even close, let's put it that way. It's a good bagel.

It's a good bagel, but New York Ess-a-Bagel is my favorite, Tompkins, right? That used to be our office bagel when we were going in--

BRIAN CHEUNG: Tompkins is a solid one. That's a solid one. I had one last week.

AKIKO FUJITA: I think Ess-a's everything bagel. I mean, that salt is very underrated. I feel very strongly about this. If you haven't been--

BRIAN CHEUNG: Yeah, I heard you're getting--

AKIKO FUJITA: --got to go.

BRIAN CHEUNG: Yeah, I heard you're getting on a plane. When you come back, we will greet you with a Tompkins Square bagel. Get you the real deal.