Questions about commodity trading: What do these abbreviations represent?

General Questions
#1

At the following web page, you may find a good display of commodity prices: http://money.cnn.com/markets/commodities.html

That being said, there are some abbreviations that I, a person completley clueless of commodity trading, do not readily understand.

These are:

bbl.

mmbtu.

troy oz. - obviously = troy ounce, but how is that different from
any other ounce?

Is there anyone out there that can clear this up?

Ficer67

#2

I suspect that bbl. is “barrels” (did it have to do with oil?) and mmbtu is probably “millions British thermal units” (was it about natural gas?).

A troy ounce is 0.9115 Avoirdupois ounces (the ounces you are familiar with).

#3

bbl = barrel (presumably oil)
mmbtu = million british thermal units (measure of heat)
1 troy ounce = one twelfth of a pound. 1 apothecary ounce = one sixteenth of a pound.

#4

And then you got me wondering, why are Troy ounces different than Avoirdupois ounces?

A link to the history of measurement here.

#5

And you can use this excellent resource to convert between various weights.

Note to Q.E.D. - I think you meant Avoirdupois. Apothecary weights are another thing, and are based upon Troy weights. In fact, there are only 12 Apothecary ounces in an Apothecary pound (which is the same as a Troy pound).

Also, Troy/Apothecary pounds do not weigh the same as Avoirdupois pounds.

Bet you had no idea you were asking such a complex question, eh Ficer67?

#6

Actually the really complicated question is:

 Which one of these commodities is going to appreciate in value over the next year.
#7

Gum. Buy gum futures.