Commodities: quais as que mais se valorizaram? - Visual Capitalist

As tabelas de valorização, ou de desvalorização, das principais matérias primas do mundo contam uma história fascinante, e volátil, de como países, empresas, pessoas, podem ganhar muito dinheiro, mas também perder, com as mais importantes. Mas mesmo matérias primas menos "importantes" para a atividade agrícola ou industrial podem apresentar alguns ganhos fabulosos.
Mas tudo ao sabor das tendências de mercado, na volatilidade da oferta e da procura, o que não impede a existência de alguns cartéis e mecanismos manipuladores de preços, como sempre foi o bloco chantagista da OPEP (embora menos importante agora do que nos anos 1970).
O Brasil, em toda a sua história, foi um país exportador de matérias primas, e ainda continua sendo, agora talvez mais do que nunca, depois de nossa desindustrialização precoce.
Não é vergonhoso exportar matérias primas: países desenvolvidos o fazem. O vergonhoso é ficar só nesse espectro altamente volátil da economia, e depender do sabor dos mercados, sempre voláteis.
Vejamos o cenário que nos oferece o site Visual Capitalist.
Paulo Roberto de Almeida

The Periodic Table of Commodity Returns

By

 Jeff Desjardins

Visual Capitalist, January 13, 2020

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-periodic-table-of-commodity-returns-2019/

In 2019, every major asset class finished in the black.

And although the broad commodity market finished up 17.6% on the year, the performances of individual commodities were all over the map. For those familiar with the sector, that’s pretty much par for the course. 

That said, the lack of an obvious correlation in commodity markets also makes for a thought-provoking and humbling exercise: comparing the annual returns of commodities against the data from the past decade.

A Decade of Commodities (2010-2019)

Today’s visualization comes to us from U.S. Global Investors, and it compares individual commodity returns between 2010 and 2019.

You can use the interactive tool on their website to toggle between various settings for the table of commodity returns, such as breaking them down by category (i.e. energy, precious metals, etc.), by best and worst performers, or by volatility over the time period.

Let’s dive into the data to see what trends we can uncover.

Palladium: The Best Commodity, Three Years Straight

In 2019, palladium finished as the best performing commodity for the third straight year — this time, with a 54.2% return.

You could have bought the precious metal for about $400/oz in early 2010, when it was a fraction of the price of either gold or platinum.

Nowadays, thanks to the metal’s ability to reduce harmful car emissions and an uncertain supply situation, palladium trades for above $2,000/oz — making it more expensive per ounce than both gold and platinum.

Oil and Gas: Opposite Ends of the Spectrum

As key energy commodities, oil and natural gas have an inherent connection to one another. 

However, in 2019, the two commodities had completely diverging performances:

Crude oil prices gained 34.5% on the year, making it one of the best commodities for investors — meanwhile, natural gas went the opposite direction, dropping 25.5% on the year. This actually cements gas as the worst performing major commodity of the decade.

“That’s Gold, Jerry!”

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that gold and silver had a bounceback year.

Gold gained 18.3% to finish with the best return the yellow metal has seen in a decade. Silver followed suit with a similar story, rallying 15.2% over the calendar year.

Precious metals now sit at multi-year highs against an interesting economic and geopolitical backdrop to start 2020.

Where do you see the above commodities ending up on next year’s edition of the rankings?