The basics of supply and demand are pretty easy to understand: if demand grows faster than supply, prices will rise as buyers are willing to pay more to get their hands on a relatively scarce product or commodity. If supply outstrips demand prices are likely to fall as sellers try to attract more buyers.
These fundamentals affect everything in the economy but for traders they are especially important when it comes to commodity markets.
The price of individual commodities like crude oil, corn and wheat fluctuate during the year in response to a range of seasonal factors like harvest times and weather patterns. It’s important to understand at the outset, however, that the commodities market is a complex place and seasonal factors are only one of many things that impact prices.