Commodity price data records the value of energy, metals and agricultural products in physical and financial markets. It includes exchange futures settlements, spot prices, assessed benchmarks and forward curves. Traders, procurement teams, risk managers, lenders and analysts use it to value contracts, hedge exposures, set budgets and index supply agreements.
Typical fields
- Commodity, grade and delivery location
- Contract or assessment identifier and delivery period
- Price, currency and unit
- Price type: settlement, close, bid, ask, mid or assessed
- Trade date and publication timestamp
- Volume and open interest for exchange contracts
Sources and methods
Exchange settlement prices come directly from futures exchanges and are calculated under each exchange's own procedures. Assessed prices for physical markets are produced by price reporting agencies from reported trades, bids and offers under a published methodology. Some providers also publish indicative prices compiled from broker quotes or their own models. Each source has its own licensing terms.
Delivery and pricing
Price data is delivered through APIs, data feeds, files and spreadsheet add-ins. Pricing usually depends on the number of commodities, history, latency and users, plus any exchange or benchmark fees. Using a price to settle contracts may need a different licence from simply viewing it.
Before you buy
- Confirm the price type, especially settlement versus indicative.
- Check units, currencies and roll rules for continuous futures series.
- Ask about licensing for using prices in contracts or client reports.
- Review delayed versus real-time terms.
- Ask how corrections are published.