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 20th, 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.
