We hope you’re ready to take the money, as copper markets surprised us this morning with an increase of $0.10 per pound. Needs are declining as copper prices have been trading above $4.00 per pound for more than a year. What does this mean for the rest of the year? We will see this when we watch these markets and assume that at some point something has to yield. In the meantime, we hope this edition will go further, but we’re looking at a few influential things that will impact things.
Like the fluctuations in the market? No one does unless you just sway! These markets are of great concern to traders and manufacturers. As these continue their uptrend, you will begin to see market movements that may not tickle your imagination. What are you asking? According to many analysts, prices for gas, oil, supplies, food, goods, products, cars and homes will continue to rise in the first half of 2022. This will ensure that metal prices are sustainable, but will have significant effects on the market.
Non-Ferrous Prices and Market Situation
Copper bounces often cause our SAT indicators to rise on wire, copper and brass products. This is nothing new or different because we have seen these crazy $0.10 – $0.20 price swings regularly over the past year and a half. These markets remain hot as products can’t get in and out of factories or shipping containers overseas fast enough. This leads many people to liquidate their warehouses – but it also causes more shipping and handling problems than we’ve seen in years.
These higher prices are great for the cash entry point in the field, but what we’re seeing is that many people are moving to higher margins (aka higher profits per pound) to offset fuel, labor and other ongoing ancillary operating costs Copper Splash, Higher Prices for Half Time.
Iron Price and Market Condition
Steel scrap prices continued to weaken at the beginning of 2022 (no surprises here as oil continues to strengthen). We want you to remember where we saw $50 to $100 a short year ago as the markets enter a somewhat downward spiral. price per ton moves both up and down. Even as demand for raw goods and recycled materials increases, these markets remain unstable.
For the remainder of the first quarter of 2022, we will be surprised to see that we shine in the reduction in ferrous island and not in the non-ferrous side of the pool.
Iron Price Chart of the Week
Quietly, the nickel and stainless markets are starting to show signs of recovery. On the stainless 304 side, where many scrap yards have increased their prices by about $0.07 per pound over the past six weeks, we’ve seen these markets depressed (we emphasize this because it’s the most common stainless grade scrapped every day).
Catalytic Converter Prices and Market Condition
We are happy to see this increase as prices have returned to the levels we saw in early November. We talked about growing markets in the first quarter of 2022 as automakers strengthen their supply chains (which is happening fast). Solving these supply chain issues will lead to much faster integration with technology and car shipping to markets.
As supply chains begin to unravel, demand for precious metals and increasing concentration in the catalytic converter market will drive price growth for the first quarter. These price increases will and should continue with the end of winter and the elimination of external supply problems.
