Metal Commodities and Recycling Report, Raleigh Scrap Metal Recycling, 2310 Garner Rd, Raleigh, NC, 27610, 919-828-5426

RALEIGH METAL RECYCLING 

METAL COMMODITIES AND RECYCLING REPORT

APRIL 27TH, 2015 

2310 GARNER ROAD

RALEIGH, NC, 27610

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, April 27^th, 2015.  My name is Greg Brown, President and CEO of the companies.

Last week while there was some very bad news, we saw some stabilization in the commodities markets which is a clear positive.

As expected, Steel Dynamics released their earnings last week and said that OmniSource, the country’s second largest recycler, lost money in the first quarter.  Related, Nucor Steel released that their recycling division’s profit declined.  Nucor also released that their DRI plant in Louisiana, that makes a scrap steel substitute, was back on line in recent weeks.  This plant back on line is just another factor in keeping scrap steel prices low. 

Raleigh Metal Recycling Steel Prices

There has been stabilization of the euro vs. the dollar, but with the euro at about $1.08 to the dollar, this is still a major incentive to have scrap metal and finished goods steel, flow into the U.S. from Europe.

The low euro along with dynamics such as the continuing decline in the oil rig count, continue to put pressure on steel production and prices.  

Last week the oil rig count fell for the 20th week in a row.  At the current 704 rigs, it is 56% below last October’s high of 1,609.  

Baker Hughes - US Oil Rig Count Graph

Oil, though, is now up about 18% from the lows of a few months ago, so this rapid oil rig decline should be slowing soon.  

On the positive side, with auto production strong and with construction in the U.S. getting a bit better, steel production is off its lows.

AMM - Steel Production Graph

Copper had some highs and lows last week, but remains in a range for the past 6 weeks and is about $2.76 per pound this morning.

Raleigh Metal Recycling Copper

Aluminum traded in a similar way last week and is about where it was two months ago.

Raleigh Metal Recycling, Copper

There were some mixed signals in the economy last week with the government releasing that orders for durable goods were up a nice 4%, but it was mostly due to orders for commercial aircraft.  Behind these numbers was that last month was the 7th month in a row of declines in business investment.  Michael Montgomery of IHS Global Insight said, "The report was yet another false positive that looks good in the headline but is eroding away underneath.

New home sales were released last week and fell more than 11 percent, to 481,000, which was off its recent 7 year high.  Importantly, new home sales are still running less than half its high of over 1 million units in 2006.  Tight lending by banks and enormous student debt are major drags on this market.

Wall Street while somewhat being fueled by leverage of people buying on margin, continues to do very well.  As noted above, while fuel prices are rising, they are still below last year, so we hope the wealth effect of Wall Street, combined with lower fuel prices, will get the economy through some of its soft spots.

It was great to see so many friends, customers and suppliers at the ISRI meeting last week.

There were no changes to our copper prices in North Carolina last week, with our Raleigh prices of #1 copper being purchased for $2.36 per pound.  Prepared Steel is still being purchased for $6.25 per hundred pounds.

With that we hope all have a safe and profitable week. Tune in next week for the Commodities and Recycling Report.

Metal Commodities and Recycling Report, Raleigh Scrap Metal Recycling, 2310 Garner Rd, Raleigh, NC, 27610, 919-828-5426

 

RALEIGH METAL RECYCLING 

METAL COMMODITIES AND RECYCLING REPORT

APRIL 20TH, 2015 

2310 GARNER ROAD

RALEIGH, NC, 27610

 

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, April 20^th, 2015.  My name is Greg Brown, President and CEO of the companies.

Last week was a very tough week in the recycling business, but there are signs of relief.  Two large publically traded companies released that their outside accountants have issued what is called a “Going Concern” statement.  This was due to both companies were in violation of their banking agreements, as of December 31, 2014.  As you may remember, a few weeks ago, Steel Dynamics released that their OmniSource division would lose money in Q1 and Nucor released that their recycling division would have declining profits.  Put together, this means that the companies that were in trouble at the end of 2014, were probably in worse trouble as the quarter ended a few weeks ago.

AMM - Scrap Metal Prices Graph

 

 

As for scrap steel prices, they were up a couple of dollars last week based on small increases in exports.  Also on the positive side, Clarkson Capital released buy ratings on Nucor Steel, Arcelor Mittal and AK Steel, due to their exposure to the U.S. automotive and construction industry.  They also wrote as we have mentioned, that the U.S. steel companies may file anti-dumping charges by foreign steel companies, to try and reduce the flood of imports.

AMM - Steel Production Graph

 

 

While steel production bumped up a bit last week, it remains near its multi-year lows, again due to the flood of imports and some weak end markets like Oil and Gas drilling.

Baker Hughes - US Oil Rig Count

 

The oil rig count hit yet another new multi-year low last week and is now back to where it was in November of 2010.  The combined oil and gas rig count is now at the lowest level since July 2009.  With the oil rig count at 734 rigs, that is now an enormous 55% drop from the recent October 2014 high of 1,609 rigs.

CME Group - Copper Prices Graph

 

Copper had a volatile week, having declined a bit and as of last night, Sunday, was $2.82, but is about 2.74 this morning. A couple of weeks ago, copper went to $2.89 for a number of hours, but excluding that, copper hit a new one month high last night.



Kitco - Aluminum Prices Graph

Aluminum had a great week and is now at a multi month high.  We remain feeling good about aluminum pricing as it takes even higher market share in cars and trucks and as the commercial jet market continues to hit new production records.

Kitco - Lead Prices Graph

 

Lead also had a great week and is near a 6 month high, which is good news for those that recycle lead and car batteries.

 

As for more positive news, this morning, the Chinese central bank made some moves to stimulate their economy, which will help all as well.

 

In summary, many commodities have stabilized from their free fall and some are hitting multi month highs.  Major damage has been done to the recycling industry, but it looks like the worst may be over.  Importantly, no one it talking like there will be a major recovery like we saw in 2009 and 2010.  Prices and profits are due to stay low.

 

For those of you that are still on the fence and thinking of coming to the ISRI meeting in Vancouver this week, it will be a great meeting to talk to suppliers, see friends and attend the Metal and Money theft from scrap yards session that I will be speaking at.

 

There were no changes to our copper prices in North Carolina last week, with our Raleigh prices of #1 copper being purchased for $2.36 per pound.  Prepared Steel is still being purchased for $6.25 per hundred pounds.

With that we hope all have a Safe and Profitable week.   Tune in next week for the Commodity and Recycling Report.

 

Metal Commodities and Recycling Report, Raleigh Scrap Metal Recycling, 2310 Garner Rd, Raleigh, NC, 27610, 919-828-5426

RALEIGH METAL RECYCLING 

METAL COMMODITIES AND RECYCLING REPORT

APRIL 13TH, 2015 

2310 GARNER ROAD

RALEIGH, NC, 27610

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, April 13^th, 2015.  My name is Greg Brown, President and CEO of the companies.

AMM - Scrap Metal Prices Graph

Last week was ferrous trading week.  It was uneventful in that there was little change anywhere.  In talking to people, most prices were sideways, with a few people saying prices were slightly up and others said slightly down.  We heard in the Midwest, there were some people struggling to sell all their material. 

AMM - Steel Production Graph

Steel production in the U.S. remains terribly depressed as it has been for the past two months and hit a new multi-year low last week.  With the U.S. dollar continuing to be very strong vs. the Euro and with little growth in the European economy, there is little to reduce the flow of European scrap and European steel finished goods from coming to the U.S.  Also, if last week’s announcement of a political deal with Iran turns into a real deal, it means Iran will be able to bring more oil to the market which will keep pressure on oil prices.  That will further hurt U.S. drilling rates, which will hurt steel production, and therefore hurt scrap steel prices.

Baker Hughes - US Oil Rig Count Graph

As for steel used in oil drilling rigs, oil prices remained low last week.  U.S. crude inventories reported their largest weekly increase in 14 years, making this the 13^th week in a row of increases.  U.S. gasoline stock levels hit their highest seasonally adjusted level since record keeping began.  This will help consumer spending with lower oil prices, but is hurting steel prices with lack of demand for drilling. The lower prices continue to cause the oil drilling rig count to decline, which is now down a huge 53% since hitting its high in October of 2014. 

CME Group - Copper Prices Graph

Copper held its own last week and had little change, with no global economic news to make anything happen. 

Kitco - Aluminum Prices Graph

Aluminum prices declined slightly for the week and are near multi-year lows.  On the positive side, Alcoa released their earnings and said that aluminum for commercial trucks was a major growth market for aluminum.  Related, last week there were also reports of Chrysler and GM following Ford with adding major amounts of aluminum to their vehicles to get more weight out of their vehicles to get higher gas mileage.

There were no changes in our copper prices in North Carolina last week, with our Raleigh prices of #1 copper being purchased for $2.36 per pound.  Prepared Steel is still being purchased for $6.25 per hundred pounds.

Lastly, if you are still on the fence and have not decided to go to Vancouver Canada next week for the annual ISRI meeting, book your flights and come.  It is the only place where in one day you can meet executives from every equipment and service company for the industry.  It is also a great place to network.  Related, we will be on a panel discussing metal theft from scrap yards, which remains a major problem in the industry.

With that we hope all have a Safe and Profitable week.   Tune in next week for the Commodity and Recycling report.

Metal Commodities and Recycling Report, April 6th, Raleigh Scrap Metal Recycling, 2310 Garner Rd, Raleigh, NC, 27610, 919-828-5426

Raleigh Metal Recycling 

Metal Commodities and Recycling Report

April 6th, 2015 

2310 Garner Road

Raleigh, NC, 27610

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, April 6^th, 2015.  My name is Greg Brown, President and CEO of the companies.

It was a very quiet week in the markets.

Last week as April began, there were few if any trades in steel. 

Steel production remains near its multiyear low, which is a reason that scrap metal demand remains weak. 

 

 

AMM - Steel Production Graph

With demand low, prices remain steady at their multi-year lows.

AMM - Scrap Metal Prices Graph

With the strong dollar, scrap prices also remain low due to scrap metal imports continue to hit the East Coast.  Related, a few weeks ago Nucor Steel announced that their DRI plant in Louisiana which has been off line since November was due back on line by last week. It is not clear if this happened.  As many know, DRI competes with scrap steel, therefore this will be yet another reason for depressed scrap steel prices. 

The number of oil drilling rigs in the U.S., after hitting a hit of 1,609 in October 2104, fell to 802 last week, which is a 50% plunge from the high, which is also keeping steel prices down.

Baker Hughes - US Oil Rig Count Graph

On the positive side, March car sales which were released last week were up about 1% from a year ago, but at a very high annualized level of 17.1 Million units.

The price of scrap steel for April will be established this week.  With the mixed dynamics we just mentioned, there may be no change in prices on average, with some grades possibly slightly higher and other grades slightly lower.

Copper had a tough week.  It started the week at about $2.80 per pound and steadily declined all week, finishing about $2.74 per pound.

CME Group - Copper Prices Graph

Aluminum had just about the same trend and declined all week, with Kitco spot aluminum finishing the week just above 78 cents.

Kitco - Aluminum Prices Graph

Sadly, nickel prices declined this week, taking stainless steel prices down to lows not seen in years.

The increase in the U.S. dollar vs. the euro remains a key reason for the flood of scrap metal and finished goods coming to the U.S.  The dollar’s strength stabilized last week and reversed a bit, but the flood of imported goods continues.

On another subject, the March U.S. jobs report that was released last week was a very disappointing 126,000, making it the lowest since December 2013.

Bureau of Labor Statistics - Job Market Graph

While bad weather was one of the causes, others believe a new softening economy is a reason.  A growth in high wage jobs remains a major factor in the slow growth economy. Some believe this slow growth, means the fed could further delay the increase in interest rates which is due to happen in the coming months.   Of course slow growth keeps scrap metal prices low.

Our congratulations to Jay Sherwood, formally of Schupan and Sons, for his being recognized this month by the Portage Rotary, for all his great work in the community.

Last week we raised copper prices in North Carolina, with our Raleigh prices of #1 copper being purchased for $2.36 per pound.  Prepared Steel is still being purchased for $6.25 per hundred pounds.

With that we hope all have a Safe and Profitable week.   Tune in next week for the Commodity and Recycling Report.