Early in (2014), the commodities markets were doing surprisingly well. China's appetite for raw material was holding up, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was predicting a decent year of global growth, which meant rising demand for everything from oil to cotton. Then the spell broke. In July, China reported lower imports of oil and copper. Since the country is the largest consumer of pretty much everything that's pumped or mined out of the ground, the news sent prices of commodities sliding. Global growth was stalling, and the commodity companies were faced with much lower demand than they'd anticipated in January. The China-led runup in prices spurred investments in new iron ore, copper, and oil production that have come to market just as growth has slowed. The IMF in early October reduced its forecast for global growth in 2015 to 3.8%, down from a July prediction of 4%.