Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Metal Commodities and Recycling Report, Wilson Metal Recycling, 404 Maury St S, Wilson, NC, 27893, 252-243-3586

Wilson Metal Recycling

Metal Commodities and Recycling Report

March 25th, 2015

404 Maury St S

Wilson, NC, 27893

252-243-3586



Due to technical difficulties, we are not able to post a video of the Monday report.  See below for the Transcript

This is the Monday 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, March 23th, 2015.  My name is Greg Brown, President and CEO of the companies.

It was a busy week in the Commodities and Recycling industry.

As a highlight on the negative side, Steel Dynamics which owns OmniSource the nation’s second largest recycler of metals, issued a profit warning to Wall Street, meaning profits were going to be lower than all had been expecting.  The flood of finished goods coming into the United States and the lowering of volume and pricing of scrap metal were the stated reasons.  It was stated that they would lose money this quarter (Jan/Feb/March) in Recycling.  Nucor Steel, the second largest steel production company in the United States and the largest recycler also issued a profit warning.  They gave the same two reasons as Steel Dynamics.  Nucor wrote that their recycling operations would have declining profits, but did not say if there was going to be a loss.

On the positive side, copper rose about 10 cents on Friday and has held this price today.  As we have stated here, the U.S. Dollar being strong is one of the reasons copper has declined in price.  On Friday, the dollar was a bit weaker, which was one of the reasons for copper to now be at about a two month high.


wilson metal recycling
Copper Prices - CME Grouo


Aluminum prices after months of declines seem to be steadying, yet some items such as UBSs (beverage cans) are still in decline.


wilson metal recycling
Aluminum Prices - American Metal Markets



Steel prices held their own this week.  As for next month, some are saying that we have hit the bottom, but that is not clear.  We remain at a multi-year low in steel prices.


Wilson Metal Recycling
Steel Prices - American Metal Markets



On the positive side of steel prices, after weeks of declining steel production, there was a slight increase last week in U.S. steel production.

wilson metal recycling
Steel Production - American Iron and Steel Institute


Oil prices remain a major factor in recycling with both positive and negative effects.  Oil hit an 6 year low this past week, which means gas price around the world remain low, which will help fuel consumer demand in the coming months. This means people could buy more cars, trucks and houses, which would help metal prices.  On the negative side, the oil and gas drilling industry continues to be hurt, which means they are buying less steel for their drilling rigs and therefore layoffs at steel mills will continue.  The U.S. oil rig count is now at 866 rigs, compared to 1,473 last year, down an incredible 44 percent.

There were no changes in our scrap metal prices last week in North Carolina, with our Raleigh prices of #1 copper being $2.20 per pound, but we see that prices may go up this week.  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 Monday Commodity and Recycling report.