If you think commodity producers are out of the woods as markets rally, here’s a reality check: many are still grappling to contain debt. Another year of belt-tightening hasn’t kept pace with an earnings slump after prices collapsed. One gauge of leverage among mining, energy and agriculture companies continued to rise in the fourth quarter and is more than double year-earlier levels. While raw materials have rebounded in the past month, they are still well below levels of even two years ago — 28 percent in the case of copper and 64 percent for crude. To end the gluts that sank prices, companies ought to be cutting more output, but many are still so deeply in debt that they need to keep churning out cash to stay above water. “I call it the commodity conundrum,” said Jessica Fung, a commodities analyst with BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. in Toronto. “Cutting […]