Commodity and material costs: metals, plastics, packaging and food
What the engine tracks for commodities costs across the UK, US and India.
Updated
UK basic-metals producer prices (ONS), 30 Sept 2026
195.4 index
Source: Office for National Statistics
Check which of your costs are moving
Commodities here means the raw materials and ingredients a business buys: metals, plastics, packaging, timber, textiles, chips, and food commodities such as grain, sugar, dairy and coffee. This page collects what Atri's engine tracks for this cost: the terms it watches, the benchmarks it checks its calls against, its latest analyses, and how those calls have scored.
What the engine watches for
The engine flags a story for this cost when it names a term such as steel, rebar, hot-rolled, or a named benchmark for the UK, US or India.
The full list of terms
It reads news, regulator notices and official data every day. The full list of terms:
Steel
- Anywhere: steel, rebar, hot-rolled, hot rolled coil, HRC, steelmaker
- UK: tata steel, british steel, lme steel, hrc nw europe
- US: CRU, midwest hrc, section 232, nucor, cleveland-cliffs
- India: TMT, mcx steel, jsw steel, SAIL
Aluminium
- Anywhere: aluminium, aluminum, bauxite, alumina
- UK: lme aluminium, rusal
- US: midwest premium, aluminum mw, comex, section 232 aluminum
- India: mcx aluminium, nalco, hindalco, vedanta, metldex
Copper & wiring
- Anywhere: copper, copper price, copper prices, lme copper, copper futures, refined copper, copper cathode
- US: comex copper
- India: polycab, finolex, havells wire, mcx copper
Wheat & grain
- Anywhere: wheat, grain, flour, cereal, CORN, barley, maize, soybean, soybeans
- UK: cbot wheat, milling wheat
- US: cbot corn, srw wheat, kc hrw, MGEX, season-average price
- India: MSP, mandi, agmarknet, minimum support price, rice procurement
Packaging
- Anywhere: packaging, cardboard, corrugated, plastic packaging, glass bottle, aluminium can
- UK: smurfit, mondi, ds smith
- US: international paper, westrock
- India: kraft paper, corrugated box
Polymers & plastics
- Anywhere: polymer, polymers, plastics, plastic resin, plastic resins, resin, HDPE, LDPE, pet resin, pvc resin
- UK: plastic packaging tax
Semiconductors
- Anywhere: microchip, chip shortage, TSMC, foundry, wafer
Textiles & cotton
- Anywhere: cotton, cotton price, textile, fabric, YARN, ice cotton
- UK: ice cotton, cotlook a index
- US: ice cotton no 2, cotlook a
- India: cci cotton, kapas, mcx cotton
Timber & furniture
- Anywhere: timber, lumber, WOOD, plywood, MDF, sawn timber
- UK: imported softwood, sawn timber price
- US: cme lumber, random lengths
- India: plywood, TEAK
Coffee beans
- Anywhere: coffee, arabica, robusta, green coffee, coffee futures
- UK: ice arabica, london robusta
- US: ice coffee c, coffee futures
- India: coffee board, arabica parchment
Sugar
- Anywhere: sugar, white sugar, raw sugar, sugar #11
- UK: sugar #11, london white sugar
- US: sugar no 11, ice sugar
- India: FRP, sugarcane price, fair and remunerative price
Milk & dairy
- Anywhere: MILK, milk price, dairy, butter, cheese, farmgate milk
- UK: ahdb milk, farmgate milk price, defra milk
- US: class iii milk, cme dairy
- India: AMUL, milk procurement price
Food ingredients
- Anywhere: cocoa, palm oil, vegetable oil, edible oil
- UK: ice cocoa, sugar #11, london cocoa
- US: cbot soybeans, live cattle, lean hogs, feeder cattle
- India: FRP, sugarcane price, edible oil import, fair and remunerative price
The benchmarks calls are checked against
Calls on this cost are graded against published series. The latest: UK basic-metals producer prices (ONS) was 195.4 index for 30 Sept 2026 (source: Office for National Statistics); US steel mill products (BLS PPI) was 388.6 index for 30 Sept 2026 (source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics); India aluminium semi-finished products (WPI, MoSPI) was 144.8 index (2022-23=100) for 30 Sept 2026 (source: mospi).
Every benchmark series, by region
Each call is graded against the series for the story's region. Where no series is wired, the call is counted but not graded.
| Input | UK | US | India |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steel | UK basic-metals producer prices (ONS) 195.4 index for 30 Sept 2026 (source: Office for National Statistics) | US steel mill products (BLS PPI) 388.6 index for 30 Sept 2026 (source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics) | No benchmark wired yet |
| Aluminium | No benchmark wired yet | No benchmark wired yet | India aluminium semi-finished products (WPI, MoSPI) 144.8 index (2022-23=100) for 30 Sept 2026 (source: mospi) |
| Copper & wiring | No benchmark wired yet | No benchmark wired yet | India copper cathodes (WPI, MoSPI) 172.9 index (2022-23=100) for 30 Sept 2026 (source: mospi) |
| Wheat & grain | No benchmark wired yet | No benchmark wired yet | India wheat — grain-basket proxy (WPI, MoSPI) 119.2 index (2022-23=100) for 30 Sept 2026 (source: mospi) |
| Packaging | UK paper & paper-products producer prices (ONS) 136.3 index for 30 Sept 2026 (source: Office for National Statistics) | US paperboard packaging producer prices (BLS PPI) 379.5 index for 30 Sept 2026 (source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics) | No benchmark wired yet |
| Polymers & plastics | UK rubber & plastic-products producer prices (ONS) 150.7 index for 30 Sept 2026 (source: Office for National Statistics) | US plastic resins & materials (BLS PPI) 289.7 index for 30 Sept 2026 (source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics) | No benchmark wired yet |
| Semiconductors | No benchmark wired yet | US semiconductor producer prices (BLS PPI) 28.801 index for 30 Sept 2026 (source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics) | India electronic integrated circuits (WPI, MoSPI) 93.2 index (2022-23=100) for 30 Sept 2026 (source: mospi) |
| Textiles & cotton | No benchmark wired yet | No benchmark wired yet | India raw cotton — textiles proxy (WPI, MoSPI) 94.3 index (2022-23=100) for 30 Sept 2026 (source: mospi) |
| Timber & furniture | UK wood & wood-products producer prices (ONS PPI C16) 172.3 index for 30 Sept 2026 (source: Office for National Statistics) | No benchmark wired yet | No benchmark wired yet |
| Coffee beans | No benchmark wired yet | No benchmark wired yet | India coffee (WPI, MoSPI) 166.2 index (2022-23=100) for 30 Sept 2026 (source: mospi) |
| Sugar | No benchmark wired yet | No benchmark wired yet | India sugar manufacture (WPI sub-group, MoSPI) 127.8 index (2022-23=100) for 30 Sept 2026 (source: mospi) |
| Milk & dairy | UK dairy producer prices (ONS PPI C105) 156.6 index for 30 Sept 2026 (source: Office for National Statistics) | No benchmark wired yet | No benchmark wired yet |
| Food ingredients | No benchmark wired yet | No benchmark wired yet | India food-products manufacture (WPI group, MoSPI) 117.1 index (2022-23=100) for 30 Sept 2026 (source: mospi) |
Latest analyses on commodities costs
No indexed analysis names this cost right now. The engine keeps watching; new analyses appear here as they are published.
More briefings by region: UK early warnings · US early warnings · India briefings (informational only).
How the engine's calls on this cost have scored
Not enough graded calls yet to show a hit rate: 6 graded so far, 8 pending.
By input, and how calls are graded
- Steel: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
- Aluminium: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
- Copper & wiring: Not enough graded calls yet: 5 graded so far, 2 pending.
- Wheat & grain: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 3 pending.
- Packaging: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
- Polymers & plastics: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
- Semiconductors: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
- Textiles & cotton: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
- Timber & furniture: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
- Coffee beans: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
- Sugar: Not enough graded calls yet: 1 graded so far, 2 pending.
- Milk & dairy: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
- Food ingredients: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 1 pending.
Every cost call is dated when it is published and graded against a published benchmark series once its period ends. No hit rate is shown for fewer than 30 graded calls. How calls are graded.
How this analysis was produced
- Data sources
- UK basic-metals producer prices (ONS): Office for National Statistics; US steel mill products (BLS PPI): US Bureau of Labor Statistics; India aluminium semi-finished products (WPI, MoSPI): mospi; India copper cathodes (WPI, MoSPI): mospi; India wheat — grain-basket proxy (WPI, MoSPI): mospi; UK paper & paper-products producer prices (ONS): Office for National Statistics; US paperboard packaging producer prices (BLS PPI): US Bureau of Labor Statistics; UK rubber & plastic-products producer prices (ONS): Office for National Statistics; US plastic resins & materials (BLS PPI): US Bureau of Labor Statistics; US semiconductor producer prices (BLS PPI): US Bureau of Labor Statistics; India electronic integrated circuits (WPI, MoSPI): mospi; India raw cotton — textiles proxy (WPI, MoSPI): mospi; UK wood & wood-products producer prices (ONS PPI C16): Office for National Statistics; India coffee (WPI, MoSPI): mospi; India sugar manufacture (WPI sub-group, MoSPI): mospi; UK dairy producer prices (ONS PPI C105): Office for National Statistics; India food-products manufacture (WPI group, MoSPI): mospi; Atri engine: indexed analyses and the public track record
- What the AI did
- No AI wrote this page. It is assembled automatically from the engine: the terms its matcher watches, the benchmark series and their latest published values, the indexed analyses (each written by an AI model, with its own disclosure) and the graded track record.
- Checked automatically
- only indexed analyses are listed; no hit rate under 30 graded calls; figures are quoted as published, with the period they cover.
- What people did
- People chose the benchmark series and the terms. No person reviews this page before it changes.
- Data as of
By the Branch² Intelligence Desk. How the analysis is made · Editorial policy and corrections
Related
- US tariffs in 2026 and small business
- Hospitality: the costs that reach the industry
- Manufacturing: the costs that reach the industry
- Retail: the costs that reach the industry
- Construction: the costs that reach the industry
- Free cost exposure check: which of your costs are moving
- Energy costs
- Fuel costs
- Freight and shipping costs
- Tariffs and import costs
- Interest rates and borrowing costs
- Wage costs
Automated analysis for information only. Not investment advice. Read the full disclaimer.