Bloomberg cited data from analytics firm Coalition Ltd, which also revealed the first three months of 2016 mark the worst start to a year since 2005.
Coalition tracks commodities such as power and gas, oil, metals, coal and agriculture.
Banks saw a sharp drop in revenue as the firms scaled back hedging and financing deals, while their hedge fund clients also pulled out of commodity investments.
"It was a very slow quarter," Amrit Shahani, a research director at Coalition told Bloomberg. "The issue with the credit rating of the energy companies really became a problem in 2015. It's come under a magnifying glass in 2016."
Coalition also noted that concerns over the energy industry resulted in a decrease in risk appetite, which slashed revenue from oil and industrial metals.
Meanwhile, combined revenue from raw materials fell 18 percent to $4.6 billion last year, marking the lowest level in more than a decade. This occurred as institutions scaled back or completely abandoned their commodities business.
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