Commodities

What physical goods weigh in fine gold, monthly since 1960. The Transaction Database records what creative work cost in gold across history; this records what everything else costs in gold now. Why gold? The methodology explains.

Based on the gold price of July 2026.

Energy

Crude oil, Brent
637 mg
per barrel (159 L)
Crude oil, WTI
606 mg
per barrel (159 L)
Crude oil, Dubai
586 mg
per barrel (159 L)
Natural gas, US Henry Hub
22.1 mg
per mmbtu (1.055 GJ)
Natural gas, Europe
138 mg
per mmbtu (1.055 GJ)
Liquefied natural gas, Japan
90.1 mg
per mmbtu (1.055 GJ)
Coal, Australian
1.01 g
per tonne (1,000 kg)

Metals and precious

Copper
103 g
per tonne (1,000 kg)
Aluminium
24.1 g
per tonne (1,000 kg)
Nickel
127 g
per tonne (1,000 kg)
Zinc
27.5 g
per tonne (1,000 kg)
Tin
405 g
per tonne (1,000 kg)
Lead
14.1 g
per tonne (1,000 kg)
Iron ore
750 mg
per dmtu (10 kg iron)
Silver
449 mg
per troy ounce (31.1 g)
Platinum
12.4 g
per troy ounce (31.1 g)

Agriculture

Wheat, US hard red winter
2.37 g
per tonne (1,000 kg)
Maize
1.63 g
per tonne (1,000 kg)
Rice, Thai 5%
3.57 g
per tonne (1,000 kg)
Soybeans
3.51 g
per tonne (1,000 kg)
Palm oil
8.41 g
per tonne (1,000 kg)
Coffee, Arabica
60.4 mg
per kilogram
Coffee, Robusta
31.1 mg
per kilogram
Cocoa
42.8 mg
per kilogram
Tea, auction average
22.8 mg
per kilogram
Sugar, world
2.60 mg
per kilogram
Cotton, A Index
15.0 mg
per kilogram
Beef
55.8 mg
per kilogram
Bananas, US
8.93 mg
per kilogram
Sawnwood, Malaysian
5.57 g
per cubic metre

Fertilizers

Urea
3.05 g
per tonne (1,000 kg)
DAP
5.97 g
per tonne (1,000 kg)
Potassium chloride
3.03 g
per tonne (1,000 kg)

Everyday goods, United States

Two United States series, kept because an hour of work and a dozen eggs are things people already have a feel for. Both come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which notes that its average-price figures, the eggs here, describe a single month better than they describe a trend.

An hour of average US private-sector work
287 mg
per hour
A dozen eggs, US city average
16.7 mg
per dozen

Currencies

Imagine a loonie sitting on one pan of a scale. This is roughly how much gold you would sprinkle on the other pan to make it balance. It is a more useful way to hold the price of a currency than an exchange rate is, because the thing on the other pan does not move around.

Canadian dollar
5.41 mg
Euro
8.72 mg
Pound sterling
10.2 mg
Japanese yen
47.0 µg
Swiss franc
9.42 mg
Australian dollar
5.32 mg
New Zealand dollar
4.41 mg
Chinese yuan
1.13 mg
Indian rupee
79.7 µg
Brazilian real
1.49 mg
Mexican peso
437 µg
South Korean won
5.12 µg
Singapore dollar
5.91 mg
Swedish krona
789 µg
Norwegian krone
787 µg
Danish krone
1.17 mg
Polish zloty
2.02 mg
Turkish lira
162 µg
South African rand
464 µg

Every figure is a monthly average, weighed against gold in the same month. One troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams. Each row's line traces that weight from 1960 to now, on a logarithmic scale.

Over time

The same measurement, month by month since 1960: what one unit of each thing weighed in fine gold. Where a series covers too much ground for a linear axis to show it, the axis is logarithmic and the caption says so.

A barrel of Brent crude oil.
An mmbtu of US natural gas, roughly a gigajoule. Logarithmic scale.
A tonne of Australian thermal coal.
A tonne of copper. Logarithmic scale.
A troy ounce of silver, which is metal measured in metal.
A tonne of US hard red winter wheat. Logarithmic scale.
A kilogram of Arabica coffee. Logarithmic scale.
A kilogram of sugar. Logarithmic scale.
One Canadian dollar. Logarithmic scale.
Gold weight and purity converter →

World Bank. "Commodity Markets Outlook Pink Sheet." (2026).