Most of the site is about who produces a commodity, who buys it and what it costs. This series asks the other half of the question: how does a tonne of it physically get from where it is grown or extracted to where you buy it?
Each post follows one everyday product through the same stages: how it is grown or extracted, how it is processed into something that can travel, how it moves (trucks, rail, ships, pipelines and the ports and chokepoints in between), and how it is distributed to a shop, a café or a filling station. The production and trade figures come from the same tables as the commodity pages. The process facts come from named, linked sources, and every post says where the chain is thin without predicting what will happen.
- Part 1: Coffee from tree to cup: grown, hulled, shipped, roasted
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.
Grow, then Process, then Port, then Ship, then Roast, then Serve
- Part 2: Bananas from plantation to fruit bowl: grown, packed, shipped, ripened
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.
Grow, then Harvest, then Pack, then Ship, then Ripen, then Sell
- Part 3: Bread from wheat field to loaf: grown, graded, shipped, milled
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.
Grow, then Store, then Grade, then Ship, then Mill, then Bake
- Part 4: Gasoline: how crude oil gets from the well to the pump
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.
Extract, then Gather, then Ship, then Refine, then Distribute, then Pump
- Part 5: Cotton from boll to T-shirt: grown, ginned, shipped, spun, sewn
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.
Grow, then Gin, then Ship, then Spin, then Sew, then Export value
- Part 6: Aluminum from bauxite to beverage can: mined, refined, smelted
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.
Mine, then Refine, then Smelt, then Ship, then Roll, then Recycle
- Part 7: Sugar from cane and beet to the sugar bowl: milled, refined, shipped
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.
Grow, then Mill, then Refine, then Ship, then Pack
- Part 8: Rice from paddy to plate: grown, dried, milled, shipped
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.
Grow, then Dry, then Mill, then Bag, then Ship, then Store
- Part 9: Copper from mine to wall wire: dug, smelted, refined, drawn
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.
Mine, then Concentrate, then Smelt and refine, then Ship, then Roll and draw, then Wall
- Part 10: Cocoa from bean to chocolate bar: grown, fermented, ground, made
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.
Grow, then Ferment, then Port, then Ship, then Grind, then Make
- Part 11: Soybeans from field to crush to the chicken on your plate
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.
Grow, then Grade, then Crush, then Ship, then Feed, then Eat
- Part 12: Steel from iron ore and coal to a car body: mined, smelted, rolled
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.
Mine, then Smelt, then Cast and roll, then Ship, then Stamp, then Recycle
- Part 13: Lithium from brine and rock to the battery in an electric car
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.
Extract, then Concentrate, then Convert, then Ship, then Build cells, then Drive
- Part 14: Milk from cow to carton: cooled, heated, dried, traded
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.
Milk, then Heat, then Dry, then Bid, then Ship, then Pack