The price of copper, just about the most important industrial metal hit an all-time high of $10,070 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange on Monday, while aluminium, another metal with wide industrial applications, also touched a record high.
Zinc, another widely-used metal, is also close to a record high.
No commodity, though, has moved as spectacularly as nickel.
The metal, which with its very high melting point has a wide range of applications including stainless steel, coins, wires, gas turbines and coatings, more than doubled in price today – obliging the London Metal Exchange to suspend trading in its benchmark three-month nickel contract.