Commodity prices are falling today, but don’t join the selling momentum.
Productivity is rising rapidly. Manufacturing techniques are being shared globally at a faster rate then ever before.
Almost 1/2 of the entire human population entered the global economy since 1990. Trade has opened up in previously closed economies. The new labor is bringing labor costs down globally, simultaneously raising per capita consumption by many multiples in many countries.
Low interest rates mean that debt is cheap. Equity investments are also readily available because taxes on capital are down.
To review: Productivity up, labor costs down, global demand up, and cost of capital down. The implication is a very large increase in commodity demand. Prices have already risen quite a bit in many commodities markets, but the causal factors are long-term, and we should expect the effect to be long-term as well.
Finally, if you are investing in commodities using US dollars (I know I am), then you should also consider the currency value. The dollar has fallen more against many major currencies than the commodity prices have risen. This implies that commodity prices have even further to rise.
Dan Von Kohorn 