Cost Benefit of Higher Lower Commodities

The impact of commodity prices on consumer's wallets is now at its lowest levels of the year.  With today's decline in oil and most other commodities (besides gold), the average consumer is now saving an average of 62 cents a day compared to the start of 2008.  This is a complete reversal of the spike we saw early in the Summer when higher commodities were causing the average American to spend an extra $4.77 per day.

In the above chart we calculated the '08 price change of the major food and energy commodities in the CRB index (Corn, Soy, Wheat, Cattle, Hogs, Oil and Natural Gas) and multiplied the changes by the annual per capita consumption of each item.  While this method may oversimplify the actual costs, it provides a good idea of how changes in commodity prices have impacted consumers wallets this year.

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