Energy prices dropped 41 percent during 2015, outpacing all other commodities tracked by a widely followed index.
The S&P Goldman Sachs Commodity Index tracks the prices of energy, industrial metals, grains and precious metals commodities. Among the four areas, energy prices dropped almost 20 percent more than any of the other sectors in 2015.
According to the index, industrial metals prices dropped 24 percent, grains dropped 19 percent and precious metals dropped 11 percent.
Energy prices plummeted mostly due to the steep drop oil prices during 2015, prompting thousands of layoffs of U.S. energy workers as an oil glut caused wells to close.
The price for West Texas Intermediate crude dropped nearly 30 percent and the price of Brent crude dropped about 33 percent, according to the index. Those two types of crude serve as the major benchmarks.
While gasoline prices dropped this year, they didn’t fall as much as oil prices because of the increased demand from consumers, the Energy Information Administration reported.
Crude oil prices fell to 11-year lows in December and natural gas prices dropped to their lowest level in 16 years, according to federal statistics.
The commodity with the biggest drop in price during 2015 was nickel, which fell more than 40 percent. That was because of low demand for stainless steel, especially in countries such as China, the Energy Information Administration reported.
