4. Quick intro to 50+ commodities
Commodities power everything around us - from the food we eat and the energy that lights our homes to the metals inside our phones and vehicles.
This section gives you a simple, beginner-friendly introduction to more than 50 of the world’s most important commodities.
4.1 Agriculture & Soft Commodities
Agriculture and soft commodities form the foundation of the global food system and everyday consumer goods. These are products grown or harvested - grains, meats, oils, beverages, fibres, and fruits.
Their prices move with weather, planting cycles, global trade, diseases, and consumer demand. This section introduces the most important agricultural commodities.
🍌 Bananas
Bananas are one of the world’s most traded fresh fruits, relying on temperature-controlled supply chains and ship transport from tropical producers to major consumer markets.
Prices swing due to weather, plant diseases like Panama disease, labour disruptions, and shipping costs, making bananas a key soft commodity affected more by logistics than financial speculation.
For details, see Banana Investing 101
🌾 Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain used for animal feed, brewing, and food products, with production concentrated in Europe, Russia, Australia, and North America.
Its prices are influenced by weather, crop yields, export demand, and competition from other grains like wheat and maize, making it a key staple in global agriculture.
🥩 Beef
Beef is one of the world’s most widely consumed animal proteins, produced primarily in the U.S., Brazil, China, and Australia.
Prices depend on feed costs, cattle supply cycles, export demand, disease outbreaks, and shifting consumer preferences, making beef both an agricultural and economic barometer.
🍗 Chicken
Chicken is the fastest-growing protein commodity globally due to its affordability, short production cycle, and universal dietary acceptance.
Its prices reflect feed costs, disease risks like avian flu, export restrictions, and changes in consumer demand across major markets.
🍫 Cocoa
Cocoa is the key ingredient in chocolate, grown mainly in West Africa - especially Ivory Coast and Ghana - which together supply over half the world’s cocoa beans.
Prices are highly sensitive to weather, political stability, disease pressures like swollen shoot virus, and global chocolate demand cycles.
☕ Coffee
Coffee is a high-value tropical commodity traded mainly as two varieties - Arabica and Robusta - each with distinct markets, qualities, and uses.
Prices swing due to climate shocks (especially in Brazil), harvest cycles, currency movements in producer countries, and global café and at-home consumption trends.
For details, see Coffee Investing 101
🥥 Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is produced mainly in the Philippines, Indonesia, and India, widely used in cooking, cosmetics, and industrial applications.
Prices depend on coconut harvest cycles, weather conditions, and competition from other edible oils like palm and soybean oil.
🧵 Cotton
Cotton is one of the world’s most important textile fibers, grown heavily in India, China, the U.S., and Pakistan.
Prices fluctuate with weather, pest risks, global textile demand, and trade policies affecting major exporting nations.
🐟 Fish Meal
Fish meal is a high-protein feed ingredient used mainly in aquaculture and livestock feed, produced from small pelagic fish.
Prices move with fishing quotas, ocean temperatures (like El Niño), and global demand for aquaculture expansion.
🥜 Groundnut Oil
Groundnut (peanut) oil is a widely consumed edible oil across Asia and Africa, used for cooking and food processing.
Prices reflect peanut crop yields, weather variations, and competition from cheaper oils like palm and soybean oil.
🥜 Groundnuts
Groundnuts are cultivated across India, China, and Africa for use in food products, oils, and snacks.
Their prices depend on rainfall, crop diseases, and demand from the edible oil and confectionery industries.
🍖 Lamb
Lamb is a premium meat commodity produced mainly in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
Prices are influenced by pasture conditions, feed costs, export flows, and changing consumer diets.
🌽 Maize (Corn)
Maize is one of the world’s most important grains, used for food, feed, and biofuel production.
Prices react strongly to U.S. harvests, weather patterns, ethanol demand, and global feed requirements.
🌾 Oats
Oats are a cereal grain used for food and animal feed, grown mainly in Canada, the U.S., and Europe.
Prices move with weather conditions, shifting dietary trends, and competition from other feed grains.
🍊 Orange
Oranges are a key fruit commodity used both fresh and for juice, with Brazil and the U.S. as major producers.
Prices are highly sensitive to weather shocks, citrus greening disease, and global juice demand.
🥥 Palm Kernel Oil
Palm kernel oil is extracted from the seed of the oil palm, used in foods, cosmetics, and industrial products.
Prices track palm oil markets, rainfall patterns, and export policies from Malaysia and Indonesia.
🌴 Palm Oil
Palm oil is the world’s most traded vegetable oil, used in food, cosmetics, and biofuel production.
Prices depend on production in Malaysia and Indonesia, labour issues, weather, and global edible oil demand.
🌼 Rapeseed (Canola)
Rapeseed/Canola is a major oilseed grown in Canada, Europe, and Australia for edible oil and animal feed.
Prices respond to weather shocks, oilseed competition, and biofuel blending demand.
🍚 Rice
Rice is the staple food for over half the world’s population, with Asia as the dominant producer and consumer.
Prices shift with monsoons, government export bans, and global food security concerns.
🌳 Rubber
Natural rubber is produced from rubber trees in Southeast Asia, used primarily in tires and industrial goods.
Prices reflect weather, disease outbreaks, plantation yields, and demand from the automotive industry.
🦐 Shrimp
Shrimp is a major seafood commodity produced through aquaculture in Asia and Latin America.
Prices depend on feed costs, disease outbreaks, and global demand from retail and hospitality sectors.
🌾 Sorghum
Sorghum is a drought-tolerant grain used for food, feed, and brewing, grown widely in the U.S., India, and Africa.
Prices are driven by weather resilience, export demand, and substitution with maize.
🥛 Soybean Meal
Soybean meal is a critical protein feed ingredient for poultry, livestock, and aquaculture.
Prices follow soybean crushing margins, livestock demand, and global trade flows.
🛢 Soybean Oil
Soybean oil is a major edible oil used in cooking, processed foods, and biofuel production.
Prices depend on soybean supplies, biofuel mandates, and competition from palm and sunflower oil.
🌱 Soybeans
Soybeans are a key global oilseed grown extensively in the U.S., Brazil, and Argentina.
Prices are shaped by harvest yields, export competition, crushing demand, and China’s import needs.
🍬 Sugar
Sugar is produced mainly from sugarcane and sugar beet, with Brazil, India, and Thailand as major players.
Prices move with rainfall, government subsidies, ethanol production decisions, and global food demand.
🌻 Sunflower Oil
Sunflower oil is a popular edible oil produced heavily in Ukraine and Russia.
Prices are highly sensitive to geopolitical risks, export routes, and competition with other vegetable oils.
🍵 Tea
Tea is a major beverage commodity grown in India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and China.
Prices depend on rainfall, auction dynamics, labour issues, and global consumer preferences.
🚬 Tobacco
Tobacco is grown for cigarettes and smokeless products, with major production in China, India, and Brazil.
Prices reflect policy changes, excise taxes, health regulations, and export demand.
🌾 Wheat
Wheat is a core global staple used for flour, bread, and pasta, grown across the U.S., Russia, Canada, Europe, and Australia.
Prices move with harvest conditions, geopolitical tensions, export competition, and global food security trends.
4.2 Energy & Fuels
Energy commodities fuel the modern economy. Their prices are shaped by geopolitics, OPEC decisions, weather patterns, supply disruptions, and long-term energy transitions. This section breaks down the major energy commodities and explains what drives their markets.
⚫ Coal
Coal remains a major global fuel for power generation and industrial use, with key producers including China, India, Australia, and Indonesia.
Prices are driven by electricity demand, mining conditions, freight rates, and shifting policies around decarbonisation and energy security.
🛢 Crude Oil
Crude oil is the world’s most traded energy commodity, powering transportation, industry, and petrochemical production.
Prices react sharply to OPEC decisions, geopolitical tension, supply disruptions, and global demand trends, making it a highly watched benchmark.
🧊 Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
LNG is natural gas cooled to liquid form for transport, enabling long-distance trade between major producers like Qatar, Australia, and the U.S.
Prices are influenced by shipping capacity, storage levels, seasonal demand, and regional energy policies, especially in Asia and Europe.
🔥 Natural Gas
Natural gas is used for heating, power generation, and industrial processes, with major markets in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
Prices are highly sensitive to weather, storage data, pipeline flows, and shifts toward renewables and cleaner energy.
☢️ Uranium
Uranium is the fuel used in nuclear reactors, providing stable, low-carbon baseload power for countries around the world.
Its prices are shaped by long-term utility contracts, mine output, geopolitical shifts, and global attitudes toward nuclear energy as part of the clean-energy transition.
For details, see Uranium Investing 101
4.3 Forest Products
Forest commodities are essential building materials for homes, furniture, and infrastructure. Their markets are influenced by housing demand, forestry regulations, environmental policies, and global trade flows. This section offers a simple introduction to how these materials are produced and priced.
🪵 Logs
Logs are unprocessed tree trunks harvested from forests and plantations, used as the basic raw material for lumber, plywood, and paper.
Prices depend on timber species, forest regulations, logging costs, transportation, and demand from construction and furniture industries.
🪚 Sawnwood
Sawnwood is timber that has been cut into planks or boards, ready for use in construction, furniture, and interior fittings.
Prices are influenced by housing and construction activity, wood quality, milling capacity, and trade policies affecting lumber exports.
📐 Plywood
Plywood is an engineered wood product made by gluing thin layers (veneers) of wood together, widely used in construction, furniture, and packaging.
Its prices reflect log costs, resin and energy prices, construction demand, and environmental regulations on forestry and manufacturing.
4.4 Fertilizers & Industrial Chemicals
Fertilizers and industrial chemicals are crucial inputs for agriculture and global food security. Their prices depend on mining output, natural gas costs, export restrictions, and planting cycles. This section explains the major fertilizer commodities and the forces behind their markets.
🧪 DAP (Diammonium Phosphate)
DAP is one of the most widely used phosphorus fertilizers, providing essential nutrients for crops such as rice, wheat, and corn.
Prices are shaped by global phosphate supply, energy costs, export policies from major producers, and overall agricultural demand.
🪨 Phosphate Rock
Phosphate rock is the raw mineral used to produce phosphorus-based fertilizers like DAP and TSP, mined mainly in Morocco, China, and the U.S.
Prices depend on mining output, export controls, processing capacity, and long-term demand for crop nutrition.
🧂 Potassium Chloride (Potash)
Potassium chloride, commonly known as potash, is a key fertilizer that improves crop yield, water retention, and disease resistance.
Prices are driven by production from Canada, Russia, and Belarus, as well as global planting seasons and trade sanctions.
🧪 TSP (Triple Superphosphate)
TSP is a concentrated phosphorus fertilizer used for cereals, oilseeds, and horticulture crops requiring strong root development.
Prices move with phosphate rock availability, processing costs, and demand from regions with low soil phosphorus.
🧪 Urea
Urea is the world’s most consumed nitrogen fertilizer, essential for grain production and general crop growth.
Prices are heavily influenced by natural gas costs, plant shutdowns, export restrictions, and global demand spikes during sowing seasons.
4.5 Metals & Minerals
Metals and minerals are the raw materials of modern industry from infrastructure and manufacturing to electronics, energy storage, and renewable power. This section covers base metals, precious metals, battery metals, and industrial minerals, explaining how they are produced and what drives their global demand and pricing.
🪙 Aluminum
Aluminum is a lightweight, corrosion-resistant metal widely used in construction, packaging, transportation, and consumer goods.
Prices depend on energy costs, bauxite supply, smelter output, and global industrial demand—especially from automotive and aviation sectors.
🔋 Cobalt
Cobalt is a critical battery metal used in electric vehicle batteries, aerospace alloys, and high-performance electronics.
Prices are shaped by supply concentration in the Democratic Republic of Congo, refining dominance in China, and EV industry demand.
🟥 Copper
Copper is the world’s most important industrial metal, essential for electrical wiring, infrastructure, electronics, and renewable energy systems.
Prices respond to global economic health, mining disruptions, and surging demand from electrification and EV adoption.
🥇 Gold
Gold is a globally trusted store of value, used in jewellery, investment, and central bank reserves.
Prices move with inflation expectations, interest rates, currency trends, and geopolitical uncertainty.
⛏️ Iron Ore
Iron ore is the key raw material for steelmaking, with Australia and Brazil dominating global exports.
Prices reflect steel demand, Chinese industrial activity, shipping costs, and supply disruptions at major mines.
🔩 Lead
Lead is used in batteries, construction, ammunition, and radiation shielding, with recycling supplying a major share of global demand.
Prices depend on automotive battery demand, recycling flows, and industrial activity.
🔋 Lithium
Lithium is a cornerstone of modern batteries, powering electric vehicles, energy storage systems, and portable electronics.
Prices are volatile, influenced by battery manufacturing demand, new mining projects, and processing capacity—mostly concentrated in China.
🛠 Nickel
Nickel is used in stainless steel production and high-performance batteries for electric vehicles.
Prices respond to Indonesian supply expansion, energy transition demand, and shifts between class-1 (battery grade) and class-2 production.
🥈 Palladium
Palladium is a precious metal mainly used in catalytic converters for gasoline vehicles, reducing emissions in exhaust systems.
Prices are driven by auto industry demand, supply risks from Russia and South Africa, and substitution trends toward platinum.
💎 Platinum
Platinum is used in jewellery, catalytic converters (especially for diesel engines), and various industrial processes.
Prices move with automotive demand, mine output from South Africa, and investment flows.
🧲 Rare Earths
Rare earth elements are a group of minerals essential for magnets, electronics, wind turbines, and defence technologies.
Prices depend heavily on Chinese production, export policies, and rising demand from clean-energy and high-tech industries.
🥈 Silver
Silver serves dual roles as a precious metal and an industrial metal—used in electronics, solar panels, and medical applications.
Prices are linked to investment demand, manufacturing trends, and the growth of photovoltaic solar installations.
🪙 Tin
Tin is vital for soldering in electronics, as well as in packaging and coatings.
Prices reflect electronics manufacturing cycles, supply from Southeast Asia, and disruptions in mining regions.
🔧 Zinc
Zinc is primarily used for galvanizing steel to prevent rust, making it essential for construction and infrastructure.
Prices move with steel demand, mine output, and energy costs affecting smelters.
Start your commodity investing journey with the free Commodities Investing 101 course by Rohas Nagpal.