Commodities ETFs were the best-performing funds in the past week, with strategies ranging from grains to oil to natural gas bringing home some of the highest returns.

One of the big stories in the past week was a new assessment of the U.S. grain crop by U.S. regulators, which said hot and dry Midwestern weather is jeopardizing end supplies of corn in a way not seen since the memorable 1988 drought all but killed corn yields.

Amid such concerns, the Teucrium Corn ETF (NYSEArca: CORN) and the Teucrium Wheat ETF (NYSEArca: WEAT), rose 10.7 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively. By comparison, the Dow Jones industrial average rose less than 1 percent to 12,602.26 in the five days ended June 28.

It’s worth noting that our survey isn’t capturing the Dow’s sharp 230-point rally on Friday related to optimism that European policymakers are making progress at a two-day summit aimed at finding new ways to bring the continent’s debt crisis under control.

Another segment of the commodities space that popped was energy, with oil & gas funds such as the First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas ETF (NYSEArca: FCG) and the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (NYSEArca: XOP) among the best-performing funds in the week. FCG rose 8 percent while XOP gained 7 percent.

The price moves came with healthy trading volume for the two ETFs—a daily average of 5.7 million shares for XOP and around 800,000 for FCG. It’s worth noting that fewer than 5 percent of all 1,400-plus ETFs listed in the U.S. have average daily trading volume above 2 million shares.

Oil prices have been pressured by ongoing concerns that slow U.S. and Chinese growth while the eurozone struggles with a still-developing debt crisis could hamper demand for all kinds of materials, but this week the market took a breather from the recent selling.

Biggest Decliners

A group of precious metals ETFs was at the other end of the spectrum.

The Global X Gold Explorers ETF (NYSEArca: GLDX) and the ETFS Physical Palladium ETF (NYSEArca: PALL) shed about 7.2 percent in the past five days ended Thursday.

The iShares MSCI Global Select Metals & Mining Producers Index Fund (NYSEArca: PICK) was another bottom performer, giving up 7 percent in the week.

Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded

Disclaimer: All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern time the date the article is published. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.