Commodities

Commodities are collections of items that can be purchased from a Commodities Broker or Cargo Vessels in sector space.

Commodities are used in missions where the player is asked to deliver supplies needed by an alien world as part of "Federation Outreach and Aid Programs".

Season 5 introduced the Duty Officer system which makes use of Commodities in various Trade and other assignments.

The Fleet Advancement System, introduced in Season 6 also provide projects which can require large amounts of Commodities.

Fleet provisions
These are used in fleet projects, some made via the replicator and some by other means. They bind to character on pickup, and so cannot be traded or put on the exchange.

Other commodities
These items are listed on the exchange under Commodities, though they generally have more specific uses in doff missions. See also: Holiday Currency Item.

Availability

 * Basic and advanced commodities can be found for a range of prices: Special Vendors (usually 75% EC), Cargo Vessels (75% EC), the base price (100% EC), and Replicator (150% EC).
 * Special commodities are always 100% cost, except from the Replicator (150% EC) and Fleet Embassy (75% EC).
 * The Quartermaster aboard a Tuffli Class Freighter or Suliban Cell Ship matches the lowest prices available. Access to these can be obtained via various in-game chat channels.
 * Ferengi characters receive a 20% discount when buying commodities from any vendor based on a ground map due to the Lobes trait. This includes the Quartermaster above, but not the Shuttlebay console in the New Romulus Embassy (this is probably a bug as per this thread on the official forums, but no progress has been made on resolving it).
 * Gamma Quadrant Commodities can be obtained from Duty Officer missions in Cardassian space, or from Special Requisition Pack - Gamma Quadrant Commodities.