The global food system, which has made commodities such as beef and corn syrup so cheap and plentiful, was blamed.
The declining dollar has made commodities, which are priced in dollars, more attractive as investments, while tensions between Turks and Kurds over border violence in northern Iraq have helped keep oil prices rising.
Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, cautioned against low interest rates and easy lending by central banks that she said had made commodity markets volatile.
Such funds have made commodity purchases far easier for a wide range of investors, including hedge funds, investment banks, pension funds and university endowments.
Kim Kardashian West, a woman who has made a commodity out of her own life, said last week that she had had to learn not to "over-promote" - so she keeps her Instagram account separate from any promotional deals, for example, so that her fans continue to believe her endorsements.
This has made the commodity--described by Goldman Sachs as the "new gasoline" a prime target for the break-out of junior miners who are keen to get in on what has traditionally been an oligopoly.
Just as Amazon's Mechanical Turk has made microtasks near commodity, expect crypto systems for payment and work validation to climb up the value chain in the labor markets.
Mr. Hunter, for one, whose Off Broadway play "The Whale" has made him a hot commodity, is juggling commissions for several theaters nationwide and is also already a member of the Playwrights Ensemble group at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago.
Palm oil's use in a wide variety of consumer products, together with the heavy impact that its cultivation has had on forests in Indonesia and Malaysia, has made it a priority commodity for conservationists and for sustainably minded companies.
