How To Become A Commodity Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a commodity specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

A commodity is a basic good that is often used as raw material in the production process. Examples of commodities include oil or sugar. A commodity specialist is a person who is experienced in purchasing such items and uses that to get supplies for their company.

The commodity specialist needs to know a lot about markets to get the best deal possible for the company for which they work. They also need to be good at forming relationships with suppliers and assessing risk. Usually, the commodity specialist has some international experience since many companies source their commodities abroad.

Commodity specialists need to have plenty of experience working with supply chains to succeed in this role. Often they have a bachelor's or even a master's degree in business or a related field. They also spend years working as a buyer or purchasing manager, cultivating the skills and relationships needed to succeed as a commodity specialist.

ScoreCommodity SpecialistUS Average

Salary

8.3

Avg. Salary $126,153

Avg. Salary $59,228

Diversity

4.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.78%

Asian 7.83%

Black or African American 9.08%

Hispanic or Latino 12.45%

Unknown 4.41%

White 65.46%

Gender

female 39.23%

male 60.77%

Age - 49

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 49

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.9

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.1

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a commodity specialist

Explore commodity specialist education requirements

Most common commodity specialist degrees

Bachelor's

71.1 %

Master's

14.9 %

Associate

9.6 %

Start to develop specific commodity specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Supplier Performance	10.19%
Commodities	9.01%
Purchase Orders	8.25%
RFQ	7.51%
Strategic Sourcing	6.65%

Complete relevant commodity specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New commodity specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a commodity specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real commodity specialist resumes.

Research commodity specialist duties and responsibilities

Manage the RFP and negotiation processes.
Manage daily trade maintenance for gas, energy and weather derivatives.
Manage purchases and sales of fix assets investments through Bloomberg and Sympro to maximize income and reduce risk for customers.
Manage relationships with high net worth institutional accounts; quoted prices and provide real-time trading activity information for commodities.

Prepare your commodity specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your commodity specialist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a commodity specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable commodity specialist resume templates

Build a professional commodity specialist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your commodity specialist resume.