commodity

n., pl., -ties.

1. Something useful that can be turned to commercial or other advantage: "Left-handed, power-hitting third basemen are a rare commodity in the big leagues" (Steve Guiremand).
2. An article of trade or commerce, especially an agricultural or mining product that can be processed and resold.
3. Advantage; benefit.
4. Obsolete. A quantity of goods.

[Middle English commodite, from Old French , convenience, from Latin commoditās, from commodus, convenient. See commodious.]

1. A basic good used in commerce that is interchangeable with other commodities of the same type. Commodities are most often used as inputs in the production of other goods or services. The quality of a given commodity may differ slightly, but it is essentially uniform across producers. When they are traded on an exchange, commodities must also meet specified minimum standards, also known as a basis grade.

2. Any good exchanged during commerce, which includes goods traded on a commodity exchange.

Investopedia Says:
1. The basic idea is that there is little differentiation between a commodity coming from one producer and the same commodity from another producer - a barrel of oil is basically the same product, regardless of the producer. Compare this to, say, electronics, where the quality and features of a given product will be completely different depending on the producer. Some traditional examples of commodities include grains, gold, beef, oil and natural gas. More recently, the definition has expanded to include financial products such as foreign currencies and indexes. Technological advances have also led to new types of commodities being exchanged in the marketplace: for example, cell phone minutes and bandwidth.

2. The sale and purchase of commodities is usually carried out through futures contracts on exchanges that standardize the quantity and minimum quality of the commodity being traded. For example, the Chicago Board of Trade stipulates that one wheat contract is for 5,000 bushels and also states what grades of wheat (e.g. No. 2 Northern Spring) can be used to satisfy the contract.

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Any tangible Good; product that is the subject of Sale or barter. Bulk goods such as grains, metals, and foods are traded on a commodities exchange or on the Spot Market.

noun

A product or products bought and sold in commerce: good (used in plural), line, merchandise, ware. See matter, transactions.

Object of economic value, intended for exchange in a capitalist system. Two key commodities are labour and money. Commodity chains (or commodity networks, also known as filières) are the connections between the production, circulation, and consumption of goods; for example, the supermarket and wholesale chains which bring cut flowers from Kenya to the UK. These chains may constitute vertical or horizontal linkages, or a set of firms making similar commodities; for example, aerospace industries. These last still depend on face-to-face contacts, and tend to develop as agglomerations. The commodity chains developed by transnational corporations, in contrast, tend to be global.

Commodification is a feature of modernity, and the possible valuing of the images of commodities above the commodities themselves, it has been claimed (and disputed), is a feature of postmodernity. The reported rise of a global culture is based on the ubiquity of certain commodities, from soft drinks to software, and clusters of commodified culture—entertainment, media, museums, and heritage tourism, and other tourist attractions—have made their mark on contemporary urban morphology. see geographies of consumption.

A commodity is the form a product takes when the material means of existence are organized through exchange. Commodities have two values: their immediate use in satisfying some need or desire, and their use as vehicles of exchange. Money is simply a measure of the second kind of value, enabling different goods to be commensurated in the market. Commodity fetishism is, in Marxist thought, the process whereby the products of labour come to appear to have an independent value separated from the labour of the people who created them. The role commodities have in exchange disguises the way that their value ought to be entirely derivative from the labour that produces them. In the analysis of Lukács all human relationships come to be treated as commodities, a species of false consciousness characteristic of capitalist ideology.

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

A tangible item that may be bought or sold; something produced for commerce.

Commodities are defined as marketable goods or wares, such as raw or partially processed materials, farm products, or jewelry. Intangibles, such as human labor, services, or advertising, are generally not considered to be commodities.

Any product manufactured or grown.

In cattle feeding, a term used for feedstuffs such as cotton seed hulls, brewers grains, etc. that are usually by-products from other food industries.

IN BRIEF: Something bought and sold.

Love isn't a commodity.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - produkt, bekvemmelighed

Nederlands (Dutch)
handelswaar, handig iets

Français (French)
n. - (Comm, gén) article, denrée (alimentaire), articles de ménage (npl), (fig) denrée rare, (Fin) matière première

Deutsch (German)
n. - Ware, Erzeugnis, Gebrauchsgegenstand

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αγαθό, αντικείμενο χρησιμότητας ή αξίας, (διαπραγματεύσιμο) εμπόρευμα

Italiano (Italian)
merce

Português (Portuguese)
n. - mercadoria (f), utilidade (f), conveniência (f) (Jur.)

Русский (Russian)
товар, предмет потребления

Español (Spanish)
n. - mercancía, artículo, producto, mercadería

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - handelsvara, artikel

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
日用品, 有用的物品, 商品

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 日用品, 有用的物品, 商品

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 상품 , 유용한 물건

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 日用品, 商品

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) سلعه, بضاعه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮חפץ, מצרך‬

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abc commodity	us imports exports by commodity summary