Commodities Comment
2014 price review – the supply storm
takes its toll
 2014 was a year where commodity prices disappointed once more, but this
time at the larger end of the commodity spectrum. Oil, iron ore, copper and
corn all had a year where prices underperformed commodity peers, for which
most annual average prices were down for the third year in a row. Across
commodities, there was more than ample supply availability pushing prices
into cost curves, though individual stories such as nickel and coffee showed
that supply fears can still drive significant outperformance.
 With the lagged impact of a lack of capital spending meaning commodity
supply growth is now slowing across the board and while there remain many
headwinds for commodity prices in general, we see market fundamentals
starting to improve over the coming year.