A readily computable commodity price index: 1900–2016

Abstract

This article presents an extended version of Grilli and Yang (1988)’s non-fuel commodity price index (GYCPI) for the period of 1900−2016. Specifically, the annual index under consideration comprises thirty-six commodities: the twenty-four non-fuel primary commodities considered by Grilli and Yang, two fuel commodities (i.e., oil and coal), eight additional metals and minerals (i.e., boron, cobalt, iron ore, iron & steel, manganese, phosphate rock, tungsten, and nickel), and two additional precious metals (i.e., gold and platinum). The extended index displays strong co-movement with a Divisia-version of GYCPI.In addition, this article presents a commodity price index computed at a monthly frequency for the period of January 1977−December 2017, which is compared to other existing indices such as the S&P GS Non-Energy and the World Bank Non-Energy.The annual and monthly indices here presented can be easily computed and updated from publicly available information.