May is shaping up to be the worst month for commodities since September last year, with the fall led by a drop in the value of crude oil, according to S&P Indices.

The index provider’s S&P GSCI was showing a month-to-date decline of 9.68 percent at the end of the day yesterday, which, if sustained, it said would be the worst monthly drop since the 12.17 percent fall last September.

“Increasing global economic slowdown fears and ample supplies of many commodities have continued to take their toll on the commodities market in May, along with declining equities and the increasing value of the US dollar. Year-to-date, the S&P GSCI ended May 24 with a decline of 4.86 percent, led lower by the 11.35 percent May decline in the S&P GSCI Energy index,” said  Mike McGlone, senior director of commodity indexing at S&P Indices, in his monthly commodities comment.

McGlone said that the fall in the value of crude oil—which dropped to 90/bbl this month, the lowest closing price since October—was the biggest factor in the overall decline of the S&P GSCI in May. All petroleum indices were down in May, but the natural gas index was up 14.65 percent.

There was also some good news in other sectors of the commodity universe, with the spot livestock index posting an 0.56 percent gain and the wheat index rising 3.78 percent on the back of worsening droughts in some of the world's main wheat-growing regions.

For the year to date,  the S&P GSCI Soybean index has been the best performing S&P GSCI single commodity index, while the S&P GSCI Coffee index has fared the worst.

Comment Using: