StatsGuru: Looking back at commodity price decline this year

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As 2014 draws to a close, StatsGuru looks at the numbers that have defined the year's headlines. This has been a year of declining commodity costs in particular. Most striking has been the fall in the price of oil in the second half of the year, as shown in Table 1. The cost of other forms of energy has also fallen, if not as much. Table 2 shows the reduction in prices of gas and coal.

If oil began to fall in the second half, the price of iron ore began to fall early in the year, as Table 3 shows, and half the fall was completed by the middle of the year itself. Iron ore, driven by demand in China, saw among the most striking falls in price. As Table 4 shows, some other metals saw prices hold up over the year - but not copper, long considered a bellwether commodity for the global economy.

When it comes to precious metals, as Table 5 shows, gold was volatile over the year. Table 6 shows that the world price of gold, however, held steady over the entire year - although the price declined in India. The price of other precious metals also fell.

Finally, agricultural commodities. Except for coffee, all have seen a downward push this year as well, but the difference between changes in domestic and international prices are instructive, as shown in Table 7.