Metals are getting smashed - nickel, copper and silver are all flirting with multi-year lows

Commodity prices are getting smashed again on Monday, with several metals either reaching or flirting with their lowest prices in years.

Nickel, copper and silver have all traced different paths over recent years, but they've got two things in common - they all plunged in price in 2008-09 as the financial crisis and subsequent recession ripped away demand, and they're all sliding now.

And Rabobank's senior FX strategist Jane Foley explained the main drivers of the slump:

The strengthening USD continues to contribute to the slump in commodity prices with industrial metals and oil leading the way...

Concerns that China's shift towards a consumption based growth model could dent demand for commodities for a prolonged period is an unappealing prospect for commodity producers who are already weighed downs by supply gluts.

Here's Nickel, which hit its lowest level since 2003:

And silver, which is very nearly at its lowest level 2009, has been dipping below $14 per ounce:

And copper, which is at its lowest levels since 2009, tumbling to less than half of what it was worth in mid-2011: