Among the specific trends to look out for:

Commodities will decouple from the dollar

It’s an old assumption that commodities will do well when the dollar is weak. But this quarter, oil, copper and gold have begun to move in tandem with the US currency.

Investment tends to flow out of commodities when the dollar is doing well. But the new theory is that demand for raw materials from Asia and other emerging markets is so strong that it will override this trend.

Gold and silver will be supported by worries on sovereign debt

It’s not inconceivable that gold could break through $2,000 per ounce within a few years. Gold has proved a safe haven asset class again and again, ending the 12 months up for the tenth year in a row. Meanwhile, silver is not only regarded as a “store of value” investment against inflation but, unlike gold, it also has industrial uses to boost demand.

Corn is top of the crops

Analysts from Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse and Rabobank all choose corn as one of their top commodities for 2011. The drought in Russia, causing crop failure in corn and wheat, supported the price last year. Analysts at Rabobank believe a combination of tightening supply, “heightened political risk amid tightening food supplies” and rising investor interest in agriculturals will continue to boost the price.

“Fundamentals are only part of the story,” they claim. “With agriculture and agricultural futures markets increasingly being viewed as an attractive asset class by investors, the role of outside macro drivers, including currencies, energy correlation and speculative money, are becoming more important in shaping agricultural price movements.”

Cotton is also one to watch, with inventories are likely to fall to a record low at the end of the season in July 2011.

Oil will hit $100

All the signs suggest that oil will break out of the $70-90 trading range seen this year. There is little suggestion that OPEC, the world’s powerful cartel of producing countries, will act swiftly to increase production and dampen prices.

Meanwhile, runaway Asian demand continues apace. Some analysts are worried about the economic consequences of this. Credit Suisse research notes: “If energy prices were also to break significantly higher, we would be concerned about the potentially destabilising consequences for corporate profitability and the recovery trend.”

Chinese will remain hungry for base metals

China may raise interest rates again – and again – in an attempt to halt price inflation. This may cause a correction in industrial metal prices in the first half. But its fundamentally rampant demand for raw materials will continue to fuel the copper, zinc, nickel, tin and aluminium prices. These metals will also be supported by the launch of multiple physically-backed exchange-traded funds by the banks.

However, we’re not convinced about Oleg Deripaska’s plan to launch an aluminium based fund, owing to the cost of storing the light metal and predict that this may not get off the ground in 2011 as planned.

Weather woes will increase volatility

This year has seen a slew of meteorological quirks causing supply problems in the commodities markets. Most recently, floods have forced Australian coal mines to shut, while rains affected production in Indonesia and Colombia. Then there were the Russian crop failures in the summer. And this winter extreme cold across Europe and the US has boosted energy commodities. In Brazil, the world’s top sugar producer, lack of rain has limited cane yields, while orange juice has risen on fears that frost will damage crops.

Amrita Sen, a commodities analyst at Barclays Capital, said: “There have been some very clear weather patterns emerging different to what we’ve seen in the past. It will be an important theme, especially in the first quarter for coal.”