Blog

Deep dives on individual commodities (who produces them, who buys them, what they cost and why), plus a monthly roundup when the World Bank publishes new prices. Every number comes from the site's data and links to its source. RSS.

New: the series From source to store follows everyday products from the farm or the well to the shelf or the pump.

• Cocoa from bean to chocolate bar: grown, fermented, ground, made 2026-10-11
  The Netherlands exported 26.9% of the world's cocoa butter by value in 2024; this post follows cocoa from the tree to the chocolate bar.
• Lithium from brine and rock to the battery in an electric car 2026-10-11
  Albemarle says its Atacama brine spends about 18 to 24 months in ponds; this post follows lithium from brine and rock to an electric-car battery.
• Milk from cow to carton: cooled, heated, dried, traded 2026-10-11
  FAO put international dairy trade at 9.0% of world milk output in 2024; this post follows milk from cow to carton, with powder and cheese as the traded forms.
• Soybeans from field to crush to the chicken on your plate 2026-10-11
  In 2024/25 crushers processed 359.2 million tonnes of soybeans, equal to 83.9% of production (USDA); this post follows soy from field to feed to chicken.
• Steel from iron ore and coal to a car body: mined, smelted, rolled 2026-10-11
  The blast furnace route uses 1,370 kg of iron ore and 780 kg of coal per tonne of steel (worldsteel); this post follows steel to the car.
• Aluminum from bauxite to beverage can: mined, refined, smelted 2026-10-10
  China's smelters used an estimated 540 TWh of electricity in 2022, over twice the total of Europe, the Gulf and North America; this post follows aluminum to the can.
• Bananas from plantation to fruit bowl: grown, packed, shipped, ripened 2026-10-10
  Ecuador grew 5.4% of the world's bananas in 2024 but shipped 27.8% of those traded; this is how the fruit is grown, packed, shipped and ripened.
• Bread from wheat field to loaf: grown, graded, shipped, milled 2026-10-10
  The farm value of the ingredients in a pound of US white pan bread was 3.2% of its retail price in 2025. How wheat is grown, graded, shipped, milled and baked.
• Coffee from tree to cup: grown, hulled, shipped, roasted 2026-10-10
  Switzerland exported $3.49 billion of roasted coffee in 2024, more than any coffee-growing country did in that form; this post follows the bean from tree to roaster.
• Copper from mine to wall wire: dug, smelted, refined, drawn 2026-10-10
  Porphyry copper ore averaged 0.44% copper in 2008, so over 99% of the rock is not metal; this post follows copper from the mine to the wire in your wall.
• Cotton from boll to T-shirt: grown, ginned, shipped, spun, sewn 2026-10-10
  A bale-per-shirt estimate puts about 0.18 kg of lint in a men's T-shirt, indicatively $0.38 at September 2026 prices; this post follows cotton from boll to shop.
• Gasoline: how crude oil gets from the well to the pump 2026-10-10
  Crude oil was 51.4% of the $3.10 average US pump price in 2025; this is how oil is drilled, shipped, refined and trucked to the station.
• Rice from paddy to plate: grown, dried, milled, shipped 2026-10-10
  In USDA's 2024 marketing year, exports were 11.3% of world milled-rice production; this post follows the grain from flooded field to mill, bag, ship and stockpile.
• Sugar from cane and beet to the sugar bowl: milled, refined, shipped 2026-10-10
  Brazil's Center-South mills directed 50.38% of the sugar content of their 2025/26 cane to sugar and the rest to ethanol; this post follows sugar from field to bowl.
• Commodity roundup, September 2026: the biggest movers 2026-10-06 · roundup
  In September 2026, 26 of 42 benchmark commodity prices rose. Crude oil rose most (+28%) and coffee fell most (−9%). World Bank Pink Sheet.
• What are critical minerals? A plain-English guide 2026-10-06
  Critical minerals are not the rare ones; they are the ones whose supply could be cut. What the US and EU lists say, and who actually mines and processes each.
• Australia: what it digs out of the ground and grows 2026-09-22
  Australia produced 37.7% of the world's iron ore in 2025 and sold 54.8% of world iron ore exports by value. What else it mines, farms and sells.
• Chile: the country that mines the world's copper 2026-09-22
  Chile mined 23.0% of world copper in 2025 and copper is 69% of its tracked export value, but lithium, salmon and grapes matter too. See the real numbers.
• DR Congo: the world's cobalt supply, in one country 2026-09-22
  DR Congo mined 74% of the world's cobalt in 2025 and sold 65% of world cobalt exports by value in 2024. What the data shows, and what it doesn't.
• Indonesia: palm oil, nickel, coal and tin in numbers 2026-09-22
  Indonesia produced 59% of the world's palm oil in 2023 and 67% of its mined nickel in 2025. How its four biggest commodities compare, in the data.
• Saudi Arabia: oil above all, and what else it sells 2026-09-22
  Crude oil was 94.9% of Saudi Arabia's tracked exports in 2024, worth $186.9 billion. What else it produces and trades, from dates to urea to gold, with sources.
• Coffee: who grows it, who buys it, and why it costs so much 2026-09-20
  Arabica hit a record $9.05 a kilogram in February 2025. Who grows the world's coffee, who buys it, and why the record is smaller than it looks after inflation.
• Copper hits a record: Chile mines it, China buys it 2026-09-20
  Copper reached a record $14,326 a tonne in August 2026. Where the metal is mined, who buys the ore, and why it is still 32% below its 1974 peak after inflation.
• Crude oil: who produces it, who buys it, and the price 2026-09-20
  The US pumps 21% of the world's crude, but Saudi Arabia exports the most. Who produces and buys oil, and why Brent at $90.90 is 44% of its real 2008 peak.
• Gold's record price: who mines it, who trades it 2026-09-20
  Gold hit a record $5,020 an ounce in February 2026. Who mines it, why Switzerland tops the trade table, and how the price looks after inflation.
• Lithium: 2022 boom, 2025 bust, and who mines it 2026-09-20
  Lithium metal fell from a record $490,008 a tonne in April 2022 to $77,075 in June 2025, then rose to $148,620 in August 2026. Who mines it and who sells it.
• Rice: who grows it, who sells it, and why the price is cheap 2026-09-20
  Thai rice was $471 a tonne in August 2026, about 11% of its 1974 peak after inflation. Who grows the world's rice, who sells it, and who buys it.
• Commodity roundup, July 2026: the biggest movers 2026-09-20 · roundup
  In July 2026, 13 of 42 benchmark commodity prices rose. Cocoa rose most (+27%) and silver fell most (−12%). World Bank Pink Sheet.
• Wheat: who grows it, who exports it, who buys it 2026-09-20
  Wheat cost $330 a tonne in August 2026, up 42.8% in a year. Who grows it, who ships it, who imports it, and why it is still 79% below 1974 after inflation.
• How this site knows where things come from 2026-09-06
  Every figure here is computed from a named public dataset by an open pipeline, with its unit, year and source attached. Here is exactly how that works, and where it fails.
• Commodity roundup, August 2026: the biggest movers 2026-09-06 · roundup
  Fishmeal, European gas and silver led August's gains; tea and coconut oil led the falls. Copper, fishmeal and tin set new nominal highs. World Bank Pink Sheet.