List of commodities exchanges

Most commodity markets around the world trade in agricultural products and other raw materials (like wheat, barley, sugar, maize, cotton, cocoa, coffee, milk products, pork bellies, oil, and metals).

A farmer raising corn can sell a futures contract on his corn, which will not be harvested for several months, and gets a guarantee of the price he will be paid when he delivers; a breakfast cereal producer buys the contract and gets a guarantee that the price will not go up when it is delivered.

Speculators and investors also buy and sell these contracts to try to make a profit; they provide liquidity to the system.

Some of these exchanges also trade financial derivatives, such as interest rate and foreign exchange futures, as well as other instruments such as ocean freight contracts and environmental instruments.

Main commodity exchanges worldwide: "Cashmere, Wool, Livestock, Grain, Meat, Leather"

The floor of the Chicago Board of Trade , a major commodities exchange in the United States.