Economics and Globalisation

Business and Management

Assessment: Individual Report

You are asked to choose a commodity (food or other) and write a briefing note with an accompanying set of power point slides (maximum of 12) for your superior (not an economist). He/she is giving a presentation on how world commodity prices (for a chosen commodity) are changing and what, if any, the connection is with the change in world oil prices. Each slide should be accompanied by notes that explain what the slides show. The report should not exceed 2500 words (slides and notes) excluding references and appendices. Your work should be submitted on Turnitin in pdf or word format (NOT in power points) by the deadline.

You need to include:
Relevant data for the 10-year period
The link between commodity prices and oil prices
Any other factors that have impacted on the world commodity prices.
You should make use of the following economic concepts
Demand and supply analysis
Elasticity of demand and supply
Substitutes and compliments
Make sure you define all concepts clearly
Include diagrams on your slides with clear and relevant explanations
Use a range of sources, for example, textbooks, academic journal papers, the latest economic news and data sites, and economists and specialists' comments to support your findings, discussions, and suggestions/recommendations. Use Harvard System to properly reference your report, including both in-text referencing and end of paper reference list. Failing to do so will lead to a loss in a mark. You should upload a Microsoft Word document or PDF to Turnitin (not Power Point, as in that case your notes will be lost).

KEY THINGS NEEDED FOR THIS ASSESSMENT
Select a global commodity that is very sensitive to changes in pieces.
This is a commodity that is elastic.
Justify briefly why you selected this commodity, possibly because the commodity is traded in the commodity stock exchange.

Commodities exchanges are places where commodities and derivatives are traded, and they can be global in nature. Commodities exchanges trade in raw materials and agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, sugar, maize, cotton, cocoa, coffee, milk products, pork bellies, and oil. They also trade contracts based on these commodities, which can include spot prices, forwards, futures, and options on futures. Commodities trading can help investors diversify their portfolios and hedge against price fluctuations.

Some examples of commodity exchanges include:
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)- An American derivatives marketplace founded in 1898
London Stock Exchange- Offers a platform for commodity trading, including Exchange Traded Commodities (ETCs)
EEX Group- Launched a Global Commodities business in 2014 to help customers trade a wider range of products
LSEG- Offers a variety of commodities markets, including energy, agriculture, metals, and shipping

Download Global oil prices at annual prices or monthly prices for the last 10-year 2013 to 2023. I prefer annual prices or even both.
Download 10 years data (2013 - 2023) a commodity price that is very sensitive to changes in global oil prices like wheat, rice, coffee, tea, sugar, natural gas etc. NB only commodities sensitive to changes in global crude oil prices should be considered.
Discuss factors that have impacted on the world commodity prices (Oil prices & commodity prices)

For oil prices these factors can be:
Explain factors that influences the change in crude oil prices examples are: Rising prices due to global inflation, wars, political tension, elections, sanctions. A typical example in the last 10 years is the war in Ukraine, Israel-Palestine war, politics in large economies like the US elections/ Uk election, RUSSIAN Sanctions, Rise in Terrorism like -Hamas, BOKO HARAM etc, natural disasters can cut supply chain of crude oil, rise in cyber security crimes, trade wars between world powers like US, UK, CHINA and RUSSIA. IMPORTANTLY, economic factors like availability of a substitute good, demand and supply of a substitute good, availability of complimentary goods and the demand and supply of complimentary goods if there are, etc (Discuss these more in details)

For Commodity prices these factors can be:
Climate change factors affecting commodity harvest of the food item, natural disasters, poor harvest, global economic conditions like inflation, wars, IMPORTANTLY, economic factors like availability of a substitute good, demand and supply of a substitute good, availability of complimentary goods and the demand and supply of complimentary goods if there are, etc (Discuss these more in details)
Organise your data to monthly data preferably.
Make a chart preferably a line chart.
Discuss the relationship between these two commodities. Meaning how increase or decrease in the crude oil prices leads to increase or decrease in the commodity price. Impact of Corona virus on world ss and dd of commodities, impact of wars and the mentioned above.
In economics, this increase or decrease is known as price sensitivity AKA follows the laws of DD and SS
Check out for commentaries on YouTube videos. IMF WEBSITES, WORLD BANK WEBSITES.
Connect the SS or shortage of Crude oil to the laws of dd and ss.
Justify with relevant literature
Plot bar charts, graphs to show the relationship between crude oil prices and commodity prices
Can you plot the DD AND SS of these commodities.
Connect your finding more to economic theories than POLITICS.
Pay attention to Micro economic theories listed below:
Demand and supply analysis
Elasticity of demand and supply
Substitutes and compliments