Commodity Price Aggregator — EIA Energy & USDA Crop Prices
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Commodity Price Aggregator — EIA Energy & USDA Crop Prices
Aggregate commodity price data from US government APIs. Fetches energy prices (crude oil Brent/WTI, petroleum products, natural gas) from the EIA API and agricultural prices (corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton) from the USDA NASS Quick Stats API.
What it does
The actor queries two US federal government data APIs and returns structured commodity price records:
- EIA (Energy Information Administration): Daily petroleum spot prices (Brent, WTI, diesel, propane, heating oil), weekly retail gasoline/diesel prices, and monthly natural gas prices.
- USDA NASS Quick Stats: Monthly farm-level prices received for corn, soybeans, wheat, and cotton (requires a free API key).
No browser automation needed — both sources are clean REST APIs with JSON responses.
Output fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
source |
Data source: EIA or USDA-NASS |
commodity |
Commodity name (e.g. UK Brent Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Corn) |
market |
Market identifier (EIA-Spot or NASS-Received) |
series_id |
Source series code (e.g. RBRTE for Brent crude) |
series_description |
Full series description from the source API |
settlement_date |
Date of the price record (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM) |
price |
Price as a decimal number |
unit |
Price unit (e.g. $/BBL, $/MCF, $/GAL, $/BU) |
currency |
Currency code (always USD) |
frequency |
Data frequency: daily, weekly, or monthly |
region |
Geographic area (e.g. U.S., Los Angeles, Europe) |
grade |
Commodity grade (Brent, WTI, Gasoline, Diesel, Natural Gas, etc.) |
process |
Price type (e.g. Spot Price FOB, Price Delivered to Residential) |
product_code |
Raw product code from the source API |
Input parameters
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
commodityCategory |
No | energy |
Which category: energy, natural_gas, agriculture, or all |
eiaApiKey |
No | — | Free EIA API key for higher rate limits. Register at eia.gov/opendata |
nassApiKey |
Required for agriculture | — | Free USDA NASS key. Register at quickstats.nass.usda.gov/api |
startDate |
No | 90 days ago | Start date (YYYY-MM-DD for energy; YYYY-MM for gas/agriculture) |
endDate |
No | Today | End date |
maxItems |
No | 100 | Maximum records to return |
Example output
{
"source": "EIA",
"commodity": "UK Brent Crude Oil",
"market": "EIA-Spot",
"series_id": "RBRTE",
"series_description": "Europe Brent Spot Price FOB (Dollars per Barrel)",
"settlement_date": "2024-01-02",
"price": 76.24,
"unit": "$/BBL",
"currency": "USD",
"frequency": "daily",
"region": "NA",
"grade": "Brent",
"process": "Spot Price FOB",
"product_code": "EPCBRENT"
}
API keys
- EIA API key is optional but recommended. The built-in key covers standard usage. For high-volume runs, register your own free key at eia.gov/opendata/register.php.
- USDA NASS API key is required for the agriculture category. Free registration at quickstats.nass.usda.gov/api.
Use cases
- Track Brent and WTI crude oil spot prices for trading dashboards
- Monitor US retail gasoline and diesel price trends
- Analyze natural gas price movements by region
- Build commodity price datasets for algorithmic trading (CTA strategies)
- Feed agricultural commodity prices into agri-fintech applications
- Research energy market correlations and seasonality
Data coverage
| Source | Commodity | Frequency | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| EIA | Petroleum spot prices (Brent, WTI, diesel, propane) | Daily | 1986–present |
| EIA | Retail gasoline and diesel | Weekly | 1995–present |
| EIA | Natural gas (residential, commercial, industrial) | Monthly | 1989–present |
| USDA NASS | Corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton | Monthly | ~1900s–present |
Notes
- The EIA API returns up to 5,000 records per request; the actor paginates automatically.
- USDA NASS data reflects prices received by farmers, not futures or exchange prices.
- LME metals (copper, aluminum, zinc) and CME futures are not included in this version.