Gold May Be Breaking All-Time Records, But Other Less Glittery Commodities Are Doing Much Better

We all know how well gold has been doing lately, hitting all-time records although today gold futures were slightly lower because of slight rise in the value of the dollar. You can't turn on CNBC or Bloomberg without someone talking about how 10% of their portfolio is in gold.

Would you be surprised to learn that even though gold has been hitting record prices lately, at least five other commodities have performed even better, as have Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that are tied to their performance? According to TheStreet.com, corn, cotton, copper, coffee and silver have been beating gold. Now keep in mind the volatility of these markets. No sooner had I started writing this article than word came that corn was down as well because of the rising value of the dollar. It doesn't take much to trigger a rise or fall in commodities. The weather is a major influence, as are currency shifts, population trends and politics.

That's why most individual investors shy away from straight commodity plays. They are just too risky. But a number of ETFs tied to one or a basket of commodities helps lower some of that risk by diversifying among a number of different metals or agriculture products.

There are more opportunities than ever to take advantage of the recent gains in these other commodities. For example, there is the Teurcrium Corn ETF which was up 45% since June, versus a mere 11% rise in the SPDR Gold ETF during that same period.

Then there's silver. The iShares Silver Trust was up 37.4% year-to-date, while the SPDR Gold ETF was up 22.7% for the year. You probably don't know this but when gold prices rise, silver tends to rise faster because it's far more versatile and cheaper than gold and unlike gold it's actually used in industry.

Getting back to those agricultural commodities like corn, coffee and wheat, the Powershares DB Agriculture Fund ETF provides exposure to all three and analysts say these commodities are in high demand due to worldwide population growth coupled with higher standards of living.

One way to take advantage of the rise in copper prices is through iShares MSCI Chile. Copper prices have soared to 27-month highs on hopes of another Fed stimulus package and expectation that global growth would continue to boost commodity demand. Tom Lydon, editor of ETF Trends says modern buildings can't go without copper because it is used in pipes and wiring and Chile is the world's largest copper producer.

Base metals don't get nearly the attention that precious metals like gold do. Gold is pretty. Gold is exciting. Even medieval scientists wanted change things like lead into gold. Still some other base metals have also far exceeded gold's returns. Tin prices, for instance, are up nearly 60% year to date. Nickel has seen a 30% jump in value, while copper prices are up close to 15% for the year.