Late-2000s recession: Commodity boom

The decade of the 2000s saw a global explosion in prices, focused especially in commodities and housing, marking an end to the commodities recession of 1980-2000. In 2008, the prices of many commodities, notably oil and food, rose so high as to cause genuine economic damage, threatening stagflation and a reversal of globalization.[14]

In January 2008, oil prices surpassed $100 a barrel for the first time, the first of many price milestones to be passed in the course of the year.[15] In July 2008, oil peaked at $147.30 [16] a barrel and a gallon of gasoline was more than $4 across most of the U.S.A. These high prices caused a dramatic drop in demand and prices fell below $35 a barrel at the end of 2008.[16] Some believe that this oil price spike was the product of Peak Oil.[17] There is concern that if the economy was to improve, Oil prices might return to pre-recession levels. [18]

The food and fuel crises were both discussed at the 34th G8 summit in July of 2008.[19]

Sulfuric acid (an important chemical commodity used in processes such as steel processing, copper production and bioethanol production) increased in price 3.5-fold in less than 1 year while producers of sodium hydroxide have declared force majeur due to flooding, precipitating similarly steep price increases.[20][21]

In the second half of 2008, the prices of most commodities fell dramatically on expectations of diminished demand in a world recession.