Commodities are the world’s raw materials, as natural resources they are an essential requirement in the processing of all manufactured goods. Everything from “soft” commodities that include agricultural, crops, and several livestock classes, to “hard” commodities metals, both mined, iron and copper ore, and processed metal like aluminum and steel, as well as energy products like oil, natural gas, and coal. These energy, metals and agricultural products are the three classes of commodities, and they are building blocks of the global economy.