Commodities were at the centre of one of the earliest known financial bubbles – the tulip mania that hit the Netherlands in the 17th century.

The price of the flower was lifted by huge investment demand to a peak of 1,500 guilders a pound in February 1637 – equivalent to what a master carpenter made in about four years. It had seen a tenfold increase in the space of two months and was trading at a level not supported by demand-supply fundamentals.