Commodities: are they on the rebound? Meanwhile, there is clearly a revival in housing in the US. Chinese growth may not be as fast as it used to be, but it is still trundling along. So demand for the commodities will grow over the next few years. The rising supply from new copper mines in the next 12 months is already well known. That is what has depressed the shares and why they are now rather good value. I hold some BHP Billiton, which at £19.47 stands at 12.2 times prospective earnings for the current year and 11.4 for next. It offers a yield of 3.9pc, rising to 4.1pc. This rating would not be high for a company with moderate prospects. But in 18 months or two years, the increases in supply will have taken place and the prospects will be for continued increases in demand. Metal prices could rise more strongly, leading to higher profits and a more aggressive valuation. So at some point in the next 18-24 months I think the big mining shares will outperform. I am content to have a few and to be a bit early. And, because I have the shares, I will notice when things begin to happen. I will also notice if the shares resume a downward path and become, ahem, even better value. Smaller mining companies are a more dramatic story. They fell even more heavily in recent years. Few investors wanted anything to do with them. I have nursed losses in Griffin Mining, a British company that mines zinc in China, but I have continued to buy more. In recent weeks, at long last, they have responded to the rise in the zinc price and have rallied by 20pc to 35p. At that level they stand at a mere five times forecast earnings for next year. And if the zinc price continues to firm, profits will be substantially higher. I have even had some uplift in the price of REA Holdings, my plantation company. The battered shares have rallied by 10pc to 406p. That is doubtless in response to a recovery in the palm oil price from around $820 to $900 a tonne. Commodities and commodity shares are usually considered good investments for late in the business cycle. We have probably not reached "late" yet but I think it is not too soon to put at least a little money into this area. Meanwhile, my broker, Brewin Dolphin, has sent my elder daughter, aged 19, an "appropriateness assessment" form to fill in. The form explains that Brewin is required to send the form because she has bought shares in an investment trust that has holdings in Vietnam. This apparently falls into the category of "non-mainstream pooled investments." Who "requires" that her "appropriateness" should be assessed? The European Union of course. The "Markets in Financial Instruments Directive" was accepted by some traitor to his country in 2007. Who did that? Oh yes, I remember. Personally I think a British man or woman should have an inalienable right to invest where he or she wants. The European Union should get a life and let me and my daughter live ours. For the latest investing news,