Commodity roundup, August 2026: the biggest movers
The World Bank published its August 2026 commodity prices on 2026-09-02. Of 70 benchmark series, 42 rose on the month and 25 fell. The largest monthly gains were Fishmeal (Any origin, 64-65% protein, CIF Hamburg) $2,500/t, +19% on the month and +43% on the year; Natural gas (Europe (TTF)) $21.11/MMBtu, +17% on the month and +89% on the year; Sugar (World raw sugar (ISA daily price)) $0.38/kg, +12% on the month and +3% on the year; Silver (Handy & Harman, New York) $65.4/troy oz, +11% on the month and +71% on the year; Platinum (London afternoon fix) $1,780/troy oz, +10% on the month and +33% on the year.
Fishmeal’s move is the kind this series makes: Peru’s fisheries ministry sets the anchoveta catch quota by decree ahead of each season, and because Peru supplies roughly a quarter of traded fishmeal, a tighter-than-expected quota moves the price in the days around the announcement rather than gradually (see fishmeal’s drivers). European gas at +89% year on year is still working through the regional supply-and-storage dynamics covered in the 2022 energy shock: TTF remains multiples of the US Henry Hub price for the same molecule because pipeline and LNG capacity, not price, cap how fast the two markets can converge. Silver and platinum’s year-on-year gains sit against supply that is largely fixed in the short run — silver mostly arrives as a by-product of other metals’ mining, and platinum’s autocatalyst demand moves with the diesel share of the vehicle fleet — so both are more exposed to a demand or investment shift than a commodity with elastic supply would be (see silver and platinum).
The largest monthly falls were Tea (Kolkata auction, India) $2.85/kg, -9% on the month and -5% on the year; Palm kernel oil (Malaysia, CIF Rotterdam) $2,264/t, -6% on the month and 0% on the year; Bananas (Central and South America, US import) $1.1/kg, -6% on the month and +8% on the year; Natural gas (US Henry Hub) $2.77/MMBtu, -4% on the month and -5% on the year; Coconut oil (Philippines/Indonesia, CIF Rotterdam) $1,853/t, -4% on the month and -32% on the year.
Tea’s auction price reflects the mix of what growers offer as much as demand for it, so a flush of coarser leaf can pull the average down even without a change in underlying demand (see tea’s drivers). Palm kernel oil and coconut oil trade as substitutes in the lauric-oil market, and coconut oil’s own -32% year-on-year move suggests supply on that side of the pair has eased, pulling kernel oil down with it (see palm kernel oil and coconut oil).
New nominal all-time highs this month: Copper (LME cash, grade A cathode) at $14,326/t; Fishmeal (Any origin, 64-65% protein, CIF Hamburg) at $2,500/t; Tin (LME cash) at $55,385/t. Data vintages updated this month: amis (2026-09-04), baci (V202601), energy_institute (Statistical Review 2026), faostat (2025-12-31T00:00:00), fred (2026-07), giews (curated 2026-09), imf_pcps (2026-08-06), pinksheet (2026-09-02), usda_psd (2026-09-06), usgs (MCS 2026), world_atlas (world-atlas 2.0.2 (Natural Earth 4.1.0)). Prices are monthly averages of benchmark quotes and lag the market; see the prices dashboard for every series.
Commodities in this post
Prices are monthly benchmark averages that lag the market; informational only, not investment advice.