Overview

Goods are tangible objects used by consumers and producers. They may be used for a specific task or simply used as a decoration. By comparison, services are tasks performed by producers in the tertiary sector for other producers and consumers, with money value but no real physical value. Both goods and services are called commodities and exchanged for money in the commodities market.

Classification of Commodities

Commodities can be classed in several ways. Common classifications of commodities include:

• Needs essential to survive and live at a basic standard, basic wants to have a reasonable quality of life and luxuries which are not needed.
  
• Free goods of which there is an abundance of and economic goods and services that are scarce enough that consumers are willing to pay for them.
  
• Capital goods used to produce other goods and services and consumer goods or final goods ready to be used by consumers for themselves.
  
• Durable goods that last a long time and can be reused and non-durable goods that can only be used once and are perishable.
  
• Merit goods and positive goods that are considered beneficial to society and demerit goods and negative goods that have a negative social impact.