Is scrap going up or down?

Scrap metal prices in Spain

This is explained by Helena Balcázar, General Manager of Superbid in Colombia, a company specialized in the recovery of capital of medium and large companies through internet auctions of their unserviceable assets and adds that part of the advice provided by the auction company is to make companies see the value of what they have.

Likewise, the manager explains that it is very different to have a ferrous scrap, which is the most basic iron scrap, than to have a copper scrap, which is the most sought after worldwide; that is why when China, for example, demands copper, the economy soars and when it does not, the world economy falls.

This demonstrates the importance and value of something that is sometimes undervalued in organizations and even given away because we do not know what buyers are willing to pay for these assets.

Therefore, beyond receiving large sums of money for assets that were seen as “useless”, companies obtain other advantages when auctioning scrap metal and knowing the true value of what they have is one of them, since the organizations have a consultancy that will tell them: “this is worth a lot, know it; and sell it as a lot because the most important thing is that they take it”.

Price of scrap iron

In February I went to sell to one of the scrap dealers in Barcelona who sell scrap iron and they paid me 0.09 cents per kilo which is the same at 90 euros per 1,000 kilos, we also sold some aluminum which was paid at 0.50 cents per kilo at 500 euros per 1,000 kilos.

After 4 months with the economy stopped I was afraid that the prices of scrap and metals would fall, one of the factors that influence the price of scrap is the price of oil, they say that when the price of oil rises the scrap also and if the oil falls the scrap also, another factor is the supply and demand, that is if many people want to buy the price goes up and if nobody buys the price goes down.

I wanted to ask the price because I had about 100 kilos of copper, and the difference between scrap dealers in this metal can be very different. There are scrap dealers that can buy it at 3 euros and others at 4 for 100 kilos, we are talking about 100 euros difference.

The bad thing is that they do not tell you the price until you sell it, for this reason you have to waste your time and go with 1 kilo of copper and sell it in several places and when you know who pays better then sell it in large quantities.

Price per kilo of scrap iron in colombia

The fact that an important ore deposit is discovered and exploited increases its current volume and produces a drop in prices. The same happens with the opposite fact. When a mine exhausts its mineable reserves it creates a drop in overall production that will drive prices up. This is what can happen, for example, with the world production of “rare earths” (widely used in technological products), since a deposit is about to be exploited in Greenland that would double current world production.a mine decides to increase its production as a result of greater production efficiency, greater use of technology or more intensive extraction.

The consequence: there is less demand and more pressure to lower prices. The current hope is that the United States will be able to fully overcome its crisis and that Europe will emerge completely from it. If both demand sectors of the world recover, then metal prices can rise again, and gold is a special case, which generally rises when economies are not doing well. Historically, many investors think of gold as an alternative investment when economic times are tough and use it as a hedge.

How much they pay per kilo of scrap metal

Market participants said that the increase in scrap prices was mainly due to growing demand and rising prices for rebar and billet.

“The Turkish long steel market continued to improve this week,” a Turkish trading source told Fastmarkets. “Rolling mills are offering rebar at $650 per ton FOB and it looks like U.S. buyers are likely to accept these offers. Demand looks healthy at the moment.”

Spot prices for cargoes imported into Vietnam recovered strongly over the past week, even if some buyers opted not to buy, due to high prices and the narrow margin between scrap and billet.

Prices for scrap containerized cargoes to Taiwan rose amid higher freight costs and strong demand for such shipments from buyers due to a lack of berth space for bulk cargoes in the country.