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Commodities: 15 Major Markets Compared

Oil and gas, gold, silver, platinum, copper, grains, softs and cattle. Same questions for each: the contract, who produces it, the figures its price is set against, how to get exposure, and how far its price fell from its highs.

Verified figures, not advice. Contract terms, production, stocks and fund costs come from the exchange, government agencies and fund issuers named beside each figure, read on 14 Oct 2026. A figure we could not verify is shown as "not verified"; a figure we worked out ourselves is marked "computed". We do not say where a price is going or whether to buy. Commodity funds and futures can lose more than you expect. Found a mistake? Tell us and we correct it.

Energy

CommodityChange, 5 yearsDeepest fallNow vs high
WTI crude oil
US benchmark crude, delivered at Cushing
+8.2%
-49.9%
-21.1%
Brent crude oil
The international crude benchmark
+22.7%
-50.5%
-15.7%
Natural gas (Henry Hub)
US gas, heating and power
-44.2%
-80.7%
-66.8%

Precious metals

CommodityChange, 5 yearsDeepest fallNow vs high
Gold
Store of value and jewellery
+134.7%
-23.0%
-20.2%
Silver
Money metal with large industrial use
+151.0%
-37.9%
-35.2%
Platinum
Autocatalysts, jewellery, industry
+67.0%
-34.5%
-28.0%

Industrial metals

CommodityChange, 5 yearsDeepest fallNow vs high
Copper
Wiring, construction, electrification
+49.8%
-28.1%
-0.5%

Grains and oilseeds

CommodityChange, 5 yearsDeepest fallNow vs high
Wheat (CBOT)
Chicago soft red winter wheat
-12.6%
-53.4%
-37.9%
Corn (CBOT)
Feed, food and ethanol
-11.9%
-53.8%
-38.8%
Soybeans (CBOT)
Oil and meal
+4.6%
-43.7%
-24.3%

Softs

CommodityChange, 5 yearsDeepest fallNow vs high
Coffee (arabica)
ICE US coffee "C"
+42.5%
-38.9%
-29.7%
Cocoa
ICE US cocoa
+111.0%
-76.0%
-54.0%
Sugar (No. 11)
World raw sugar
-8.5%
-48.1%
-34.9%
Cotton (No. 2)
Fibre for textiles
-34.9%
-58.7%
-50.9%

Livestock

CommodityChange, 5 yearsDeepest fallNow vs high
Live cattle
CME live cattle
no chart
no chart
no chart

Changes and falls are measured on month-end prices of the front-month futures contract, October 2021 to September 2026, and checked against a second source. "Deepest fall" is the largest drop from a previous high; "now vs high" is how far below its highest month-end the price stood at the end of September 2026.

How to read a commodity

  1. Know the contract. What exactly is traded, in what size, delivered where. A price quoted for one grade or place is not the price of the whole market.
  2. Know who supplies it. A market where three countries produce most of the output reacts to weather and politics there.
  3. Look at stocks and costs. Inventories, stocks-to-use and the cost of production show how tight the market is. They are the commodity version of a balance sheet.
  4. Look at the path. The drawdown chart shows how deep and how long falls lasted.
  5. Check how you get exposure. Futures funds do not track the spot price, because of the roll.

Questions people ask

What is a commodity?

A raw material that is traded in standard form: oil, metals, grains, coffee, cattle. Two units of the same grade are interchangeable, which is why they can trade on an exchange.

Do commodity funds follow the spot price?

Funds that hold futures do not, because they must keep replacing expiring contracts. In contango this can cost return; in backwardation it can add. Funds that hold the physical metal avoid the roll.

What does "not verified" mean?

We could not confirm the figure from a primary source we could open. We leave it out rather than estimate.

Why is there no chart for live cattle?

We only publish a chart when we can check our price series against a second, independent source. For live cattle we found none.