From nickel to wheat, commodities mayhem in five charts

Global commodity prices are surging anew, with huge double-digit gains running rampant across the scorecard, putting further pressure on an already strained market and sparking fresh anxiety of stagflation.

Global commodity prices are surging anew, with huge double-digit gains running rampant across the scorecard, putting further pressure on an already strained market and sparking fresh anxiety of stagflation.

The market chaos caused by the war in Ukraine hit a new level on Monday amid reports the U.S. is considering a ban on Russian crude imports. That followed a warning by the International Monetary Fund of “very serious” economic consequences from the conflict and related sanctions imposed on Moscow. The rally from oil to wheat and natural gas to nickel is threatening a still-fragile economic recovery from the pandemic, exacerbating an inflationary surge for energy-consuming nations and worsening a cost-of-living crisis for millions.

Here are some of the day’s most notable moves and what they might mean for companies and everyday consumers.

Brent crude futures climbed as much as 18 per cent to near US$140 a barrel before pulling back as traders weighed the potential for the U.S. to crack down on Russian energy imports. Russia has been exporting approximately 5 million barrels a day of crude, the equivalent of about 5 per cent of global consumption, as well as nearly 3 million barrels daily of refined products -- key fuels such as diesel, fuel oil and a petrochemical feedstock known as naphtha. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts estimate a sustained US$20 shock in the oil price will lower gross domestic product by 0.6 per cent in the euro area and 0.3 per cent in both the U.S. and China.

Nickel surged as much as 90 per cent in one of the most extreme price moves ever seen on the London Metal Exchange as fears over Russian supplies leave buyers exposed to a historic squeeze. The metal added US$26,081 a metric ton for the biggest-ever daily dollar gain in the 35-year history of the contract, before closing at US$48,078. Russia is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of the metal, and the fear of sanctions or the inability to ship the metal has spooked an already tight market. More than 70 per cent of the global supply of nickel goes into making stainless steel. Yet it’s the metal’s use in batteries for electric vehicles that has really caught the market’s attention in recent years.