Who gains and who pays when the price of raw materials moves?
Metal from the mine and grain from the field are bought and sold across the world before they become buildings, machines and bread. When their price rises or falls, who is helped, and who is left to bear it?
The picture
What the numbers show, read from the Data library each time the page opens.
How to read the chart above, and the words it uses (for copper).
How to read the data
The figure is the average world price of a ton of copper in a month, in US dollars, as the International Monetary Fund records it. It does not say what any one buyer paid, and a price in dollars also moves when the dollar itself moves.
Key terms
Commodity
A raw material that is bought and sold in bulk and is much the same whoever produced it, such as metal ore or grain.
World price
An average of the prices at the main markets, used as a benchmark for what a material is worth.
Metric ton
A unit of weight of one thousand kilograms, used to measure bulk goods.
Who has a stake
Each interest, then readings from the Catholic library and the Classics library that bear on it, oldest first. Choose a group to read.
Wages that suit dangerous work, safe pits and mills, and a livelihood that does not rest on a price they cannot control.
A price that covers the labour of the year, a fair market for what they bring in, and no ruin from a bad harvest or a sudden glut.
Materials and bread at a price within reach, steady enough to plan by, and honest dealing along the chain.
That what is taken from the earth is taken with care, that its goods are meant for all, and that those who live nearby are not left with the damage.
For discussion
Agricola defends the metals as good gifts, and Pliny doubts the digging. Can the same price that rewards a miner also encourage taking too much from the earth?
The proverb blesses the one who sells grain and curses the one who hoards it. What does a farmer owe to those who need bread when the price is high?
Paul VI says created goods are meant for all. How might the interests of those who produce raw materials and of those who must buy them both be weighed?
