While the vagaries of the world’s oil markets have dominated most media coverage as well as the downward investment trends, four major global commodities have displayed remarkable similarities.
This quartet of Brent crude oil, rubber, tin and palm oil couldn’t be more diverse in their overall usage, but all are marching to the same drummer of recent peaks and valleys. According to a recent chart published by the International Monetary Fund, all seem to have shot upward shortly after the turn of the current millennium with the exception of oil, which hit an all-time high of $145 per barrel in June 2008 just before the financial market crash. But even after that dip, oil resumed a sharp climb to top $125 per barrel in 2012.