International Commodity Trading by Ephraim Clark, Jean-Baptiste Lesourd is a fantastic book for the beginner when it comes to commodities. I was surprised how much detail the authors went through. It's probably perfect for someone who does not work specifically in commodities but would like to learn more about what is available in the way of infrastructure, procedures, information, and data.
Commodity trading exchanges take place all over the world in a diverse range of commodities. The range spans from the naturally occurring ones, like wheat, sugar, minerals, coal, petroleum and precious metals, through to intangibles, such as transport cost, heating degree-days and commodity indices. International Commodity Trading provides traders and executives in companies that both produce and trade these commodities with knowledge of the specific mechanisms that apply to the international markets. It investigates the various established and novel techniques associated with the management of market operations and, importantly, links them in to the world economy at large.