Soft commodity Soft commodity Soft commodities, or softs, are commodities such as coffee, cocoa, sugar, corn, wheat, soybean, fruit and livestock. The term generally refers to commodities that are grown, rather than mined; the latter (such as oil, copper and gold) are known as hard commodities. Soft commodities play a major part in the futures market. They are used by farmers wishing to lock-in the future prices of their crops, by commercial purchasers of the products, and by speculative investors seeking a profit. Sometimes the term "soft" is restricted to commodities which are identified as primarily tropical, such as coffee, cocoa, sugar,
Latin American economy consumption and foreign investment. The context of potential U.S. policy shifts affecting trade will cause diplomatic relations between the United States and Latin America to be more volatile. Latin America stands to suffer from global economic repercussions of such as fluctuations in the stock and commodities market. Volatility in commodity prices, to which Latin American economies are highly exposed, could be a big shock to the Latin America's economic growth. Latin American economy Latin America as a region has multiple nation-states, with varying levels of economic complexity. The Latin American economy is an export-based economy consisting of individual countries in