Clint,

Look at your last sentence. " still growing but no where the pace it was " I agree with this sentence. What this means however is that demand will be greater than the previous year but not INCREASING as fast. Therefore demand for commodies is still very strong. The price of commodities has come down not because of tumbling demand but because speculation on commodities has greatly fallen. Look at oil . How much has demand fallen versus the drop in price .

As mines are closed or have slowdowns and exploration slows,inventory will come out of the system.Since our whole system is based on supply and demand,it is just a matter of time before prices start to reverse themselves. We will get through this. Rico