The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition global commodity prices have tumbled to levels below the depths of the Great Recession, underscoring the widespread difficulties facing the global economy. The Globe's Brent Jang writes that while crude oil's price collapse has been in the spotlight, a wide range of other commodities are suffering as well, including natural gas, coal, iron ore, copper, grain, and pulp and paper. Bank of Nova Scotia's commodity price index fell to 100.9 points last month, a drop of 27.9 per cent since January, 2014. The index, which tracks a weighted basket of commodities including oil, metals, forest products and agriculture in U.S. dollars, has sunk through levels of the 2008-09 recession to reach its lowest point since January, 2007. "It's a lacklustre world economy. It's a combination of slow demand growth and some capacity expansion," said Scotiabank's Patricia Mohr. "China is a part of the story because the Chinese economy is slowing gradually." Another economic indicator also highlights weak conditions globally. The Baltic Dry Index, created in 1985 as a measure of global shipping, crumbled last week to a record low of 509 points.