LONDON(BullionStreet): Silver with a whoping 572 percent gain in the last decade remained the best performing commodity, according to Lloyds TSB Private Banking Commodities Monitor.

In it's latest report, TSB said between 2002 and 2012, Silver prices have risen by 572%, significantly greater than any of the other commodities tracked.

In addition to its position as a safe haven investment, high demand for industrial uses has also contributed to the strong rise in the price of silver.

TBS said 15 of the 20 commodities tracked have at least doubled in value since 2002. Gold, at 428%, saw the second highest increase, followed by Tin (414%), Copper (406%) and Lead (344%).

Demand for gold from developing countries and investors looking to safeguard the value of their investments against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, rising oil prices and a weak dollar has helped to sustain the price of gold at a high level.

Commodity prices, in general, have risen by 161%1 over the past decade. In contrast, this is more than four and a half times the returns from UK equities2 (35%) over the same period.

The strong rise in commodity prices over the last ten years partly reflects strong demand from emerging economies and the relatively weak US dollar.

Precious metals has been the best performing sector, rising by 358% since 2002. Energy prices, at 268%, were the second highest performing sector.

Commodity prices down by 13% over the last 12 months

In contrast to the performance of the past decade as a whole, commodity prices have declined by 13% over the past year, reflecting the considerable uncertainty regarding the global economic outlook.

At a sector level, precious and base metals have seen the biggest falls (both -19%), while agricultural commodities recorded the smallest decline (-2%).

Looking forward, commodity prices are likely to be driven by the level of demand from emerging economies such as China and India."