With the month of love coming fast, we absolutely love the rise in copper prices over the past few Brings Back the Copper Slot days. We know we’re probably sounding like we’re repeating ourselves, but given the positions and price ranges these markets are in, there’s no reason to hold on to any copper or brass material. If you like to gamble and think the markets will go higher, we’d love to hear your story and market predictions.
Everyone seems to be talking about Russia lately and if there is an escalation it will have an impact on scrap prices. We expect oil and gas product prices to rise, which will result in higher costs to transport materials, and we may see some pullback for larger and heavier material grades. In the same breath, there is a real possibility that we will see increased demand for iron scrap prices in the second half of this year.
With copper prices coinciding with the stock market last week, we were not disturbed by the falling prices. It only lasted a short time and it kind of came to look for the shadow of the mole, in the last few days we have been able to see some spring price and the markets are up about $0.17. This market increase has erased the dips we saw last week and shows that scrap yards will be very wary of having such high price fluctuations and aggressive pricing.
Non-Ferrous Price Chart of the Week
As we mentioned earlier, as oil prices continue to rise, we wouldn’t be surprised if steel prices start to fall if we approach $100 per barrel for oil. This will have a ripple effect on the fuel markets and make everything more expensive than it is. The solution to this may not be seen in the next three years, because the current administration is so focused on eliminating fossil fuels that it can continue to ignore some of the higher prices we will see in the foreseeable future.
The significant increase in steel prices we saw last year is something to remember as we have not seen any price increase on the iron side recently. One item that became increasingly difficult to transport was sealed units. While many continue to buy them, rising shipping container prices will hurt these low-grade scrap values. This further illuminates the need for more metal to stay domestically in the United States and not ship overseas to ultimately save on prices in the long run.
Iron Price Chart of the Week
As nickel and stainless prices continue to rise, we are happy to see these prices increase for the first time in a long time. These markets continue to move forward as the nickel market is showing some of its strongest prices in recent years.
However, the battery market has continued to go through many rough times and we don’t see lead acid battery prices returning to the levels some people paid $0.45 per pound for lead acid scrap a few years ago. batteries. These prices seem to be a thing of the past and new markets are here to stay.
Catalytic Converter Prices
After speaking to an analyst earlier this week, they think the markets are poised for a bounce in the second half of this year. While production issues continued, there weren’t many cars transported from new dealer manufacturers, meaning that not that much precious metal was consumed. With playdium and rhodium’s primary uses being in the catalytic converter world, we may see these markets increase as a result of supply chain issues and chip shortages.
