Spices were important commodities imported to China from Southeast Asian countries via the Maritime Silk Road and occupied an important position in South China Sea trade at the time.
The Estonian central bank blames recent price increases on the higher cost of imported commodities.
"If you import commodities priced in dollars, then sell products domestically, you're a winner," he explained.
For China, a stronger renminbi will increase the buying power of its consumers and could make gasoline and other imported commodities seem less expensive.
No GM crops are yet grown commercially in the UK, but imported commodities, especially soya, are used in animal feed and in some food products.
Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, a member of the executive board of the European Central Bank, said last week that inflation that reflects rising prices for imported commodities "can no longer be ignored".
And we should be realising the untapped potential of existing and new woodlands to lessen our dependence on fossil fuels and other imported commodities.
In theory, this should have no net effect on the global economy because lower incomes for commodity-producing countries should be offset by the boost to countries that import commodities.
Notably, even as China seems to be choking on imported commodities like iron ore, steel, coal, aluminum and soybeans, its exports of everything from shoes to furniture to the United States and other foreign markets have been remarkably little affected.
In the short run inflation oscillates because of idiosyncratic movements in various components, such as rent, health care and imported commodities, but over longer periods, it is remarkably inertial: the best forecast of inflation over the next five years is inflation over the past five years.
