Do scrapyards still take scrap ?

[Renze]

Because of the financial crisis, which has spread over the world in the past month (the Dutch government has bought one bank into state owenership, and did capital investments in another two) the scrap prices are next to nothing:

Before summer i got 28 eurocents per kg. Right now the price is 2 or 3 cents, but most scrapyards dont accept new material, because they have heaps of scrap stacked in their yard, because they were hoping that the prices would get back soon, after it dropped to 12 eurocent last month.

Several scrapyards are bankrupt because they have their liquid capital tied up in scrap that aint worth a sh*t right now....

How is the situation in America ? do they take scrap at all ? Do the prices for new steel drop ?

 

[dsb5610]

Renze,

A couple weeks ago I scrapped out two junk cars. I checked on a Friday and they quoted $75/ton. Brought the first car in the next day and the owner stopped me to tell me he could only give $30/ton which was the price he was told at the end of the day Friday he would be getting come Monday. I did sell him both cars anyway since I needed them out of the way. In talking to him about the prices he said he paid as high as $280/ton a few months ago. He mentioned it was going to be a long winter, not a happy camper.

dsb

 

[MJPetersen]

Renze, I have not checked here, but maybe it is time to be loading on the metal for future projects right now. There has to be a silver lining in every cloud. The scrap yard that I frequent sells the mettal for 2x what they pay for it, so if the price is now near zero maybe the buying price will also be super low. That makes me excited to go see what they have.

Mike

 

[scott_vt]

Good Mornin Renze,
Last Thanksgiving I was layed off from my toolmaker/modelmaklers job after 35 years. I needed a partime job to fill in the gap so I took a job with a local junkyard driving a flatbed car carrier last december. When I first started hauling cars for them we were paying about $125 per vehicle, more for a truck. By the spring of 2008 I we were paying $200 for most cars and as much as $300 for larger pickups and dump trucks. By October 2008 the prices dropped like a stone, about $25 for a car today. That pretty much did in my hauling job ! Today Im back in my trade working 3 days a week, making more money BTW, and I dont see any improvement in scrap prices until well into next year and maybe beyond !

 

[sandman2234]

Right after the scrap market dropped, I still saw people standing on the corner with signs saying they bought junk cars. Must be trying to start an "auto dismantling yard" as what they are giving, is more than the price at the end user. Removing the cores such as alternator, head, block, catalytic converter etc can make it more profitable.
David from jax

 

[rbutterfield]

How is the situation in America ? do they take scrap at all ? Do the prices for new steel drop ?

Can only speak to the present situation here in Northern Indiana. We received notification at work about a week ago that the value of scrap metal has dropped so low that our recylers are actually considering charging us to haul our scrap away.
The cost of steel has dropped slightly but is no way near where it was before the big increases went into effect last year.

 

[WilliamBos]

I will have to check and see what they are here. Will be sitting on what scrap we have, junk is junk, but I don't want to give it away.

 

[bobodu]

Hoosier Metals Recycling is still paying to advertise on the radio in Fort Wayne,In. Don't know what their buy price on steel is but the sign says they are paying 35 cents for cans.
Got a wagon load of scrap sitting about 30 feet from the road and no one has stolen it....

 

[SPIKER]

I work as an electrician on/off, and have a good bunch of scrap copper, las spring /june was 3 times what is it now for it, same for steel & alum. cans were up to advertised at from 1buck down to 85cents/lb on earth day. latest Id seen it was 38cents/lb. I haven't checked on the copper I keep thinking how much / foot I paid on some of it when building. stupid thing is the price for new materials sure hasn't dropped like the prices of scrap. I'm waiting for the Menards to open, (first one in the area) for some hopefully good deals on some styrofoam insulation boards seems nat gas prices are WAY down so those should be cheap too, but alass, the local sales outlets still wanting 30 / sheet for 2: 4x8 stuff... part of the reason I have not bought any, or finished working on the pole barn...

Mark

 

[Kernopelli]

In August, I attended a retirement seminar and the financial planner/ investment guru they brought in was the owner of a small but well reputed investment firm. He discussed his family history growing up as the heir apparent of a small scrap business in West Virgina. He had different plans for his life than his father did but he claimed that he has always watched the scrap metals markets very closely and used it as one of the best indicators for not only certain sectors but for the general economy. He claimed that in 2000 he liquidated 90% of his investor's stocks to cash just prior to the dramatic downturn in the markets and did so based solely on indicators from the scrap markets. His theory is that material needs are a direct indication of how much business certain sectors will be doing and an excellent forecaster of the near future economic trends.

 

[joes_427_vette]

I have been to some of these financial seminars and to my mind they don't have any better indicators of the market than you or I. They start out with " I can get you 9% on your investments " so I say.... put it in writing and then comes the long pause......... They are after the commision rate for bringing in the business and I am willing to bet others in the backround make the final decisions. If they knew beans they would borrow a huge chunk of cash and multiply it over and over again. They would not bother trying to con you or I out of 10k at some hokey low dollar restaurant free meal gimick. I think most aspire to be used car salesmen.

 

[flaming-ace]

they still take it in the UK, we have been scrapping a lot of stuff latley

 

[Redbug]

That's very interesting Darryl. Just wondering...has the price of new metal gone down? If I wanted to buy some angle iron, for instance, is the price now cheaper than a year ago?

 

[john_bud]

That's very interesting Darryl. Just wondering...has the price of new metal gone down? If I wanted to buy some angle iron, for instance, is the price now cheaper than a year ago?

If you go to a non-retail establishment (not TSC, Menards, etc) you should have room to dicker.

jb

 

[Scooby074]

Locally, they are still taking scrap, however they wont send their grapple truck for anything less then several tons. They have quite a stockpile of steel and are waiting on the price rise. They are also sitting on their aluminum and copper.

Worked out good for me as i needed some thick pieces of aluminum. Usually they would have sold it a day or 2 after it came in.

Prices (around $1.30/lb) at my local steel retailer havent reflected this downturn in scrap prices. Im still paying the same as i was when scrap was way up.

 

[excelagator]

I use to set purchasing dept. prices on steels for the company I worked for. I watched A500 sq tube 2x2x3/16wall go from $1.47/ft to $3.48/ft in 6 months. Around 2002ish China was buying scrap like nuts. They had ship anchored offshore to get unloaded. Fast forward to now...I read steel plants in China are slowing or closed due to the global economy!

Steel here were $200 a ton this summer. I know steel was $325 a ton in Columbus due to a friend there. What they are now do not know, but I am going to the steel yard soon.

Dan

 

[LBrown59]

I work as an electrician on/off, and have a good bunch of scrap copper, las spring /june was 3 times what is it now for it
Mark

Well one good thing is the falling prices ought to cut down on copper theft.

 

[Rowdius]

I was at the scrap yard last week picking up some stuff for a project, and saw several people unloading scrap. I don't know what they were getting for it, but there was a big sign in the office stating "PRICES ARE DOWN!"

I paid .25 cents a pound.

 

[greenbeanman in Kansas]

In some ways I wish the price of scrap had dropped a whole lot sooner, i.e. before salvage cars became worth so much and before thieves stole one from me.

The steering linkage was shot but it had an excellent rebuilt motor, good transmission, and good differential which I intended to reuse in a street rod. Because it was an older vehicle the sheriff's department spent little time on it.

Now I have a 1946 Ford pickup without a proper street rodding engine. Guess I'll just stick with the Merc. flathead V-8 for now.

 

[txdon]

In central Texas a vehicle sold as scrap metal is now down to 1 cent a pound (in late October).