RALEIGH METAL RECYCLING
METAL COMMODITIES AND RECYCLING REPORT
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, June 29, 2015. My name is Greg Brown, President and CEO of the companies.
There was no good news last week in commodities and recycling as the world had to deal this past weekend with Greek debt issues. Last weekend it looked like there was hope that all would be resolved, but things turned ugly in recent days.
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| Steel Production |
Steel production came down a bit last week, but for good news, it has been slowly rising for months. Commercial Metal Corporation released their earnings last week and had higher earnings, with the increase in steel shipments being a key reason, along with a major reduction in raw material pricing, which of course is mainly scrap metal. That followed with their recycling division having doubled their loss over last year, due to lower volumes and lower prices.
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| Oil Rig Count |
Related while the oil rig count dropped for an unprecedented 29th week, the gas rig count was up, so the total oil and gas rig count was actually up for the first time in months. As has been said, these markets are major consumers of steel and produce significant amounts of scrap metal. With oil prices stable, we expect the oil rig count to stabilize as well. Refinery capacity for gasoline, which remains at high levels has cause gasoline prices to rise, despite stable oil prices. This increase is erasing some of the economic benefits that we saw in the economy with lower oil prices.
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| Copper Prices |
Copper prices which came up a bit two weeks ago, stabilized last week. While the Greek news is a negative for prices, China lowered interest rates over the weekend as well as eased banking reserve rules, both of which should help the economy. China’s stock market which had become overheated this year has come down more than 10% in recent days, so things are in flux there, which could be a negative on material prices. Remember, China consumes 50% of the world’s copper.
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| Aluminum |
Aluminum is much the same as copper in that it was somewhat stable last week, yet remains near multi year lows.
We were in Dallas, Texas last week, at the ISRI Gulf meeting, seeing friends and customers. The mood was somewhat depressed in that with the oil and gas drilling business down, as are scrap metal prices, flows of metal and profits remain depressed.
On the positive side there is word that car sales in the U.S. which will be released this week, will be strong, which is helping many parts of the economy.
Also, congratulations to our friends at Hardee’s Recycling in Greenville, NC, who set up an ATM last week to offer more value to their customers.
There were no changes in prices last week in Raleigh and Goldsboro.
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.
