Source: Barrel Blog | Joseph Innace, Platts metal content director | September 8, 2017

Hard commodities saw some slight price gains in August over July, but the average prices for eight of the 11 S&P Global Platts benchmarks tracked since US President Donald Trump took office in January remain weaker than President Barack Obama’s last full day in office.

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The monthly prices for oil, jet fuel, natural gas, coal, iron ore, steel and aluminum are down an average of about 5% since Trump became president (January 20) through August 31, 2017.

Three have gained since then: gasoline up 4.9%; ethanol up 4.5%; and gold up 4.3%.

The president campaigned hard on promises to help the US coal industry, but any boost has not yet been reflected in pricing — thermal coal spot prices are down 12.2% since he took over. Iron ore is down more than 9%, and natural gas down nearly 8%.

What’s more, 10 of the 11 average commodity prices during Trump’s first term are well below the average prices during Obama’s two terms — by an average of minus 21%, with the decline in values ranging from minus 4% to minus 39%.

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