Coffee is barely in the top 50th most traded commodity

Myth

There is a common myth that is spread around that coffee is the second most traded commodity. Well guest what it is not. This myth apparently started in the 70's. I first read it in Uncommon Grounds, but I have since read an article Coffee second only to oil? Is coffee really the second largest commodity? also written by Mark Pendergrast who wrote the book

Fact

You can read the article but the basic are this, after looking a many sources, here is a quick summary of what he found in the UN Comtrade, in dollars:

• OIL and derivative represents $1.09 trillion
• petroleum oils (non-crude) amount to $495 billion
• Natural gas is $200 billion
• ...
• Eventually food stuffs are listed:
  
  • Wheat (including spelt) and meslin, unmilled accounts for $32.9 billion
  • Cotton fabrics, woven yield $25.5 billion
  • Meat accounts for $43 billion
  • milk for another $31.6 billion
  • leather $23 billion
  • Sugars, molasses and honey $25 billion
  • Finally, there is "coffee and coffee substitutes" $22 billion

Intresting foot note
He does list an interesting question at the end, how many people are employed by the coffee industry, he estimates 75 million, of which 15 million alone are involved in Ethiopia, which represents 20% of the total number.