Commodity Shock of the Year
This chart names the broad commodity group with the largest annual price-index increase in each year since 1991. It is a four-category yearbook based on World Bank monthly indices; outlined cells mark years when the winner merely fell less than every other group.
What does it show?
Fertilizers have won the most annual commodity-shock contests since 1991—including the extraordinary 2008 and 2021 spikes—while ten ‘winning’ groups merely fell least.
Methodology
Averages each World Bank monthly commodity-group index within complete calendar years, calculates its year-over-year percentage change, and selects the largest change among energy, metals and minerals, agriculture, and fertilizers. A year still has a “winner” when every group fell; those cells are explicitly marked. The result is a contest among four broad indices, not individual commodities, inflation contributions, consumer prices, or investable returns. Averaging monthly levels also differs from comparing year-end prices.