Patterns in the data.

Concentration

How much of each commodity comes from one country?

20 of 90 commodities have one country producing more than half of world output.

Top producer and top-five share for every commodity, ranked from most to least concentrated.

Producer or exporter?

Is the biggest producer also the biggest seller abroad?

For 48 commodities, the biggest producer is not the biggest exporter.

The commodities where the country that makes the most is not the country that exports the most.

Prices in real terms

Which prices are records once inflation is removed?

0 of 43 benchmark prices are at or near a record once inflation is removed.

Every benchmark price against its all-time high, in cash terms and adjusted for inflation.

Growth and decline

Whose output is rising or falling fastest?

Fastest ten-year growth: hazelnuts in Chile, 20.3% a year.

The fastest ten-year growers and fallers among the large producers of each commodity.

Linked prices and seasons

Which prices move together, and which have a season?

Platinum and silver are the most closely linked pair, correlation 0.80.

Correlated commodity prices, price ratios and calendar-month patterns in benchmark prices.

Reserves and mining

Where are the deposits, and who digs them up?

South Africa holds 83% of known palladium reserves.

Share of known reserves against share of production, and how long reserves last at current rates.

Supply concentration

Which commodities depend on the fewest suppliers?

Cobalt is the most concentrated of 90 commodities, with an index of 4,988 out of 10,000.

A concentration index for production and exports, next to price volatility and stocks.

Land or yield?

Did output grow because farmers planted more or farmed better?

8 of 31 growing crops grew mainly by yield, not land.

Ten-year growth in world output split into more harvested area and higher yield for 45 crops.

Supply shocks and prices

When world output falls, do prices rise?

Prices rose after 51% of years when world output fell, and after 45% of quiet years.

Every year since 1993 that world output of a priced crop changed, set against what its real price did.

Category price indices

How have energy, metals and food prices moved since 1960?

Adjusted for inflation, all commodities are 51% of their peak.

World Bank category indices in cash and inflation-adjusted terms.

Drawdowns and volatility

How far do prices fall, and do they recover?

38 of 43 prices have not recovered from their worst fall.

The worst fall in real terms for every price, how long recovery took, and volatility by decade.

Stocks and prices

Are prices lower when the world holds more stock?

Higher stocks went with lower prices for 3 of 6 crops.

World stocks-to-use against the real price for six crops since 1960.

Which prices follow oil?

How closely does each commodity track crude oil?

3 prices now correlate with crude oil at 0.40 or higher.

Correlation of monthly price changes with crude oil in three periods.

How reliable is the data?

How much of world output rests on estimates?

14 of 67 commodities have over half their output estimated or imputed.

The share of each commodity's output that is official, estimated or imputed.

Net exporters and importers

Who is a net seller and who a net buyer?

96 commodities, net exporters and importers by value.

Exports minus imports by value for every commodity and the countries with the largest balances.

Country leaders

Which countries lead across the most commodities?

China is the largest producer of 28 of 90 commodities.

Counts of first places in production, exports and imports across all the commodities on the site.

Export dependency

Which countries rely on one commodity?

Kyrgyzstan gets 98% of its tracked exports from gold, the highest of 115 countries.

For each country, the single commodity that is the largest share of the export value this site tracks for it.

Concentration over time

Has production spread out or narrowed?

Sorghum spread out the most since the 1960s: 82% to 49% for the top five.

The top-five producer share by decade since the 1960s, for commodities with a long country-level history.

Import dependency

Which countries buy most of a commodity from one supplier?

560 of 1262 large import markets buy half or more from a single supplier.

For each importing country and commodity, the share of imports that comes from the single largest supplier.

Supplier shifts

Who gained and lost importers' business?

The largest supplier changed in 183 of 716 big import markets between 2022 and 2024.

The biggest changes in who supplies a large importer, and the markets where the number one supplier changed.

Trade price against benchmark

Does traded product sell above or below the benchmark price?

19 of 38 commodities export within 15% of their benchmark price.

Average export price per tonne from customs data set against the benchmark price for the same year.

Prices in other currencies

How much of a price move is the dollar?

Over ten years the median price rose 59% in dollars and 149% in yen.

Benchmark prices converted to euros, pounds and yen, over three windows.

Do prices lead each other?

Does one commodity price move before another?

79 of 861 price pairs show a lagged link; chance alone gives about 41.

Cross-correlation at lags of up to six months, set against what chance alone would produce.

Volatility over time

Are prices more volatile now than they used to be?

Median five-year volatility is 22% a year, across 43 prices.

Rolling five-year volatility for every benchmark price, and where each one sits in its own history.

Seasonality

Which prices have a calendar-month pattern?

8 of 43 prices show a consistent calendar pattern; chance alone gives about 2.

The twelve-month profile of every benchmark price, and how many would show a pattern by chance.

Price ratios

What does one commodity buy of another, and is that high or low?

4 of 10 price ratios are in their top or bottom tenth of history.

Ten ratios between benchmark prices, with where today sits in each one's history.

El Niño and prices

Do El Niño and La Niña years move commodity prices?

Real price changes in El Niño and La Niña years against chance, for crops and for everything else.

Who consumes it

Which countries consume each commodity, and how much per person?

Domestic supply and per-capita food supply by country from FAO food balance sheets, set against production.

Self-sufficiency

Which large markets depend on imports, and which produce far more than they use?

Import dependency and self-sufficiency for the biggest consuming countries of each commodity.

Trade flows

Who sells each commodity to whom?

The biggest tracked flow is Canada to United States in crude oil.

Bilateral exporter-importer pairs from CEPII BACI, not just each country's total, for every commodity's primary trade line.