Metal Commodities and Recycling Report
Goldsboro Metal Recycling
We Buy Junk Cars For More Cash
801 N. John St.
This
is the Commodities and Recycling report, brought to you by BENLEE the industry
leader in roll off trailers and open top scrap trailers, as well as Raleigh and
Goldsboro Metal Recycling, the leaders in North Carolina for Scrap Metal,
Cardboard, Electronics and Junk Cars.
Today
is Monday, July 13th, 2015. My name is
Greg Brown, President and CEO of the companies.
There
was nothing but turmoil and bad news in the markets last week, despite some
very good news two weeks ago. Today, Monday
things remain very precarious with the Greek debt issue looking like there may
be some resolution and China’s stock market being a key worry.
 |
| Steel Production |
U.S. steel production came down a bit in the
last two weeks after a few months of gains.
In recent weeks there has been word of a softening of orders in many industries
which is a concern.
 |
| Oil Rig Count |
One the positive side, we mentioned last week
that automotive sales in June had hit a ten year high. We can add that last week the oil rig count
rose for a second week in a row, after 29 weeks of declines. This along with strong automotive sales is a
positive for U.S. steel consumption. With
that said oil prices dropped about 8% last week, which will probably stem this
increase in U.S. oil drilling.
Oil
production in the U.S remains strong and if there is a deal with Iran on
nuclear issues, that will reduce world oil prices as Iranian oil flows freely.
 |
| Heavy Metal Price |
Put together there was a dramatic change in
ferrous prices last week. This chart will
show a dramatic drop with next week’s update.
Last Monday, there was word that some markets were stable and even
up. By Tuesday, all looked down a bit
and by Wednesday as word in China and Europe turned negative, ferrous prices came
down $20-$25 per GT. As an example of
bad news, the Chinese stock market after almost doubling in the past year fell
36% in about a month.
Since
that the fall, the Chinese government stepped in last week and has been pouring
money into their stock market, which toward the end of the week, had its best
days since the crash of 2009.
Note
that the lowering of steel prices will further reduce flow and profits in scrap
yards, especially in the SE, but there is enough scrap metal coming in from
Europe on barges to meet demand.
 |
| Copper Prices |
Copper prices crashed along with steel last week. Copper hit new 6 plus year lows on
Wednesday. Again as China slows, copper
prices are hit hard. With oil prices
yet again coming down, this should work to increase consumer spending and should
help copper prices.
 |
| Aluminum |
Last week aluminum had almost the exact
movement as copper, by hitting a new 6+ year low mid-week and then bounced up a
bit.
These
low volumes and profits in the scrap industry, took yet another toll last
week. Kemp Recycling that had three
North Carolina operations two years ago, closed two of them about a year ago
and there is word that the third and last one closed last Friday. This mostly retail scrap yard is the type of
yard that is being hurt very badly in this downturn that shows no sign of
getting better anytime soon.
For
current prices, please call us at 919-828-5426 in Raleigh, 919-731-5600 in
Goldsboro.
With
that we hope all have a Safe and Profitable week. Tune in next week for the Commodity and Recycling
report.
