I was told that the price was going to drop first of feb by 30.00 a ton but to day it droped 20.00 and they say next week its going to drop 30.00 more. I thought this would happen because i got busy at the end of summer and stock piled some to haul this winter. I stock piled some years ago and i even gave some away because it didnt come back for several years.
-
Thank you for visiting HeavyEquipmentForums.com! Our objective is to provide industry professionals a place to gather to exchange questions, answers and ideas. We welcome you to register using the "Register" icon at the top of the page. We'd appreciate any help you can offer in spreading the word of our new site. The more members that join, the bigger resource for all to enjoy. Thank you!
Falling Scrap Iron prices
- Thread starter Old Doug
- Start date
US dollar is getting stronger, imports from China falling off because the economy is recovering so well, Obummer sez so... NOT!!!! Anyway, I'm thinking the Chinese are paying less per long ton, and needing less of it, and with the Renminbi devaluing against the dollar, we get less for scrap. Side effect of the cheaper fuel prices. Just hang on, it's gonna get pretty ugly pretty quick around here I think.
old-iron-habit
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2012
- Messages
- 4,233
- Location
- Moose Lake, MN
- Occupation
- Retired Cons't. Supt./Hospitals
Scrap prices will be up in the election year if history is correct.
ericscher
Well-Known Member
Global demand is down in a lot of areas.
The dollar is really strong because we're the "Least Screwed".
How much of an effect this has I don't know, but we dumped trillions into the economy trying to avoid deflation, kept the prime rate at 0.25% for years and never actually managed to create a stable, sustained inflation.
Then OPEC cranks open the spigot to shut down fracking, thus killing off our energy sector and thereby the only engine actually driving what passes for a recovery these days. And with the dollar so strong, who is going to buy our goods?
The next bubble will be our last. After that, it all resets and prices deflate by about 2/3 to reach equilibrium again by reverting to where they SHOULD be based on historic curves.
Not that I'm cynical or anything...
The dollar is really strong because we're the "Least Screwed".
How much of an effect this has I don't know, but we dumped trillions into the economy trying to avoid deflation, kept the prime rate at 0.25% for years and never actually managed to create a stable, sustained inflation.
Then OPEC cranks open the spigot to shut down fracking, thus killing off our energy sector and thereby the only engine actually driving what passes for a recovery these days. And with the dollar so strong, who is going to buy our goods?
The next bubble will be our last. After that, it all resets and prices deflate by about 2/3 to reach equilibrium again by reverting to where they SHOULD be based on historic curves.
Not that I'm cynical or anything...
CM1995
Administrator
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2007
- Messages
- 13,860
- Location
- Alabama
- Occupation
- Running what I brung and taking what I win
First of all let's remember the politics rule on the Forum.:cool2
This time last year I got $.14 a pound for tin, did a nice demo job that had a lot of scrap. I hauled some old corrugated metal pipe a couple of weeks ago to the scrap yard and got $.055 per pound. I thought it was low but I checked the scrap yards closer to the city and they were paying the same.
Needless to say I was disappointed. However diesel was in the high 3 dollars per gallon, it's the ebbs and flows of the market.
I have a friend who is a millwright at a local but national owned cement plant and he told me they have spent a considerable amount of money to upgrade the plant over the winter as their forecasts are showing a big increase in demand for cement. That's good for us dirt movers as we prepare what they pour.
Now I am no economic forecaster but I am a "glass 1/2 full" type of person. I think our economy here in the US has adjusted over the last 6 years and this is the new norm with new parameters that make the market. The US economy is the largest in the world and that brings weight along with it. We have to study and adjust to the changes not only here in the US but the rest of the world. China has been on an uncontrollable growth spurt that is fluttering. They'll survive and bounce back just like we have in the past during these cycles. In other words it's a mixed bag that our economy has seen before.
Economics is a fascinating area of study and if I had more time between tearing things down and moving dirt, I'd like to formally learn more about the science of it.
This time last year I got $.14 a pound for tin, did a nice demo job that had a lot of scrap. I hauled some old corrugated metal pipe a couple of weeks ago to the scrap yard and got $.055 per pound. I thought it was low but I checked the scrap yards closer to the city and they were paying the same.
Needless to say I was disappointed. However diesel was in the high 3 dollars per gallon, it's the ebbs and flows of the market.
I have a friend who is a millwright at a local but national owned cement plant and he told me they have spent a considerable amount of money to upgrade the plant over the winter as their forecasts are showing a big increase in demand for cement. That's good for us dirt movers as we prepare what they pour.
Now I am no economic forecaster but I am a "glass 1/2 full" type of person. I think our economy here in the US has adjusted over the last 6 years and this is the new norm with new parameters that make the market. The US economy is the largest in the world and that brings weight along with it. We have to study and adjust to the changes not only here in the US but the rest of the world. China has been on an uncontrollable growth spurt that is fluttering. They'll survive and bounce back just like we have in the past during these cycles. In other words it's a mixed bag that our economy has seen before.
Economics is a fascinating area of study and if I had more time between tearing things down and moving dirt, I'd like to formally learn more about the science of it.
The dollar is strong because the Fed changed their policy, causing the change. The change in oil prices is about 90% due to the dollar strengthening, OPEC isn't doing anything different than they ever do, except the house of Saud refuses to cut back production to try to hold the price up, having been burned by other OPEC members the last time we had a big swing. Since most of their wells and pipelines were installed and paid for decades ago by English and American oil companies, their production cost is near the lowest in the world and they have trillions in cash socked away to weather the current storm with. They prefer to try to break some of the smaller producers and throttle back US drilling and increases in production. I think there's some collusion here as well, Obummer wants to poke the bear, er, Putin, because well, Obummer just isn't as manly as Putin and his ego needs stroking, so let's crash oil prices to screw Russia, and to throw the Saudis a bone we won't let Canada pump tar sand oil to the Gulf. We're constantly trying to kill living wage jobs with more emissions regulations, but in order to have a healthy balance of trade we need to produce internally and export goods to bring dollars back here. Meanwhile those thousands of ships hauling all the cheaply produced crap from India, China, Korea, Viet Nam, Slovakia, Italy, etc. and hauling our grains outbound are spewing more pollution and Co2 into the air than all of the US and Canada combined since they're burning bunker "C" with 3 or 4 % sulfur in International waters and are flagged in countries with no Sea ports so there's no regulation until they get within sight of the beach. You don't hear the EPA or the UN raising hell about that do you?
Scrub Puller
Senior Member
Yair . . . lantraxco Is that all??? (big grin)
Well said by the way.
Cheers.
Well said by the way.
Cheers.
Its warming up and people are wanting to clean up. I had 2 calls to come and haul scrap. I think i will haul some of my pile to. I dont think it will come back up for sometime so i need to make it work at the lower price. The worst part was i was going to buy a newer pickup with the profit from my stock pile another lesson learned the hard way.
old-iron-habit
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2012
- Messages
- 4,233
- Location
- Moose Lake, MN
- Occupation
- Retired Cons't. Supt./Hospitals
You did better than possible around here.
Ronsii
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2011
- Messages
- 3,464
- Location
- Western Washington
- Occupation
- s/e Heavy equipment operator
Yeah, that's way better than wholesale around here, did you leave a bunch of brass on them or something?
Multiracer
Senior Member
I just turned in 10,000 lbs of steel pipe yesterday, to the scrap yard it is called "shred". It was only $100.00 per net ton.
digger242j
Administrator
I called the other day to get a price on scrap rebar. I don't remember if they said it's $5 or $6 per hundred pounds. Last year they were paying $11.
Queenslander
Senior Member
Scrap price down, energy prices down and iron ore in free fall, yet new steel price has hardly moved, here at least.:beatsme
old-iron-habit
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2012
- Messages
- 4,233
- Location
- Moose Lake, MN
- Occupation
- Retired Cons't. Supt./Hospitals
I was in Duluth, MN today. The taconite pellet stock pile at the train dump/ship loading facility is the largest I have seen in my life time. Iron ore prices have been going down for two years, they are half what it was. They are shutting down another mine in Northern MN in a couple weeks because of the low ore prices and yet steel price is as high as ever. They call this free trade? It does not smell good.