I wouldn't necessarily reduce my claim to "high inflation environments", but this link might prove helpful:

http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/05/051905.asp

Here's another:

http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/102915/do-hedge-fund...

Or perhaps they'll just buy all the companies that store commodities of a certain type. I've heard horror stories (from a family member in finance) about hedge funds who will buy up all of a certain type of commodity (in this specific example all of the farms that produce a specific type of egg) and just wait until the manufactured "scarcity" causes prices to go up, and then they'll start selling.

So even if it's not necessarily part of their "plan", I know of at least the one case above. My relative assured me there are plenty of other examples out there. I'd say at the very least Hedge Funds have proven to be a very opportunistic bunch who would probably salivate at the idea of a scarce commodity that was the primary component in all batteries manufactured in the world.