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
404 Maury St. S. Wilson, NC 27893
252-243-3586

 

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. 

 

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. 

Oil Rig Count

Related while the oil rig count dropped for an unprecedented 29^th 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.

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.

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.

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
June 15, 2015
404 Maury St. S. Wilson, NC 27893
252-243-3586

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 22, 2015.  My name is Greg Brown, President and CEO of the companies.

There was little good news last week in commodities and recycling and in fact there was bad news.  As we mention continue to mention, the global economy continues to get better slowly, last week Greek debt had people worried and China is going nowhere fast. The only glimmer of good news was that this morning, the Greeks seem to have come up with some concessions that the other European counties view as positive and has helped stock markets around the world.



Steel Production

 

Steel production had a nice little uptick last week and is up for the past few months, but it is still well below last year. 

Oil Rig Count

 

The oil rig count has now declined for 28 weeks in a row and is now close to the rig count of 5 years ago.  This remains a significant drag on steel consumption.  With imports of steel finished goods continuing, there remains a drag on scrap metal production along with steel in oil rigs being down. 

Heavy Metal Price Composite

Even with the small ferrous price increase of a couple of weeks ago, scrap flows remain very, very weak, as do profits, especially with copper and aluminum near 6 years lows, which we will discuss in a minute.  With these low prices, scrap yards in the Southeast which have a higher percentage of retail business, vs industrial business, have been hit hard, as have been the shredders in the SE and last week, yet another shredder shut down.  This one owned by GREER Recycling.


Copper Pricing

Copper prices remain near their 6+ year lows and as we said last week, we see no reason why this will change anytime soon.



Aluminum Prices

Aluminum dropped a bit last week and is also at 6 year lows. 

Aluminum 6 Year Lows

 

We remain in the belief that aluminum prices are near their bottom due to aluminum inventories are also hitting new 6+ year lows. 



Aluminum Stock Levels

As said on the bad news, yet another shredder in the Carolinas shut down.  We were told GREER Recycling is working with its bank on selling its shredder.  The low scrap prices in the market have effected the SE more than the Midwest and NE in that the SE is much more dependent on Retail business, than industrial business.  As for other bad news Trailer sales and sales of Class 8 Trucks—tractor trailer units, were down in May for the first reduction year over year in a long time, which is hurting steel production.

On the positive side, sales of existing homes hit a 5 ½ high last month and car sales may have a record year in the history of the industry.  This should support some stabilization of commodity prices. 

Prices for Aluminum and copper were down last week in Raleigh, Goldsboro and Wilson.

 

Steel and Junk cars we up.  Please call us at 919-828-5426 in Raleigh, 919-731-5600 in Goldsboro and 252-243-3586 in Wilson for prices. 

With that we hope all have a Safe and Profitable week.   Tune in next week for the Commodity and Recycling report.

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

June 15, 2015

404 Maury St. S. Wilson, NC 27893

252-243-3586

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 15, 2015.  My name is Greg Brown, President and CEO of the companies.

Overall while the global economy continues its slow steady growth, China which is a key driver for commodity pricing, continues to be very weak in scrap metal consumption.  This weakness along with the uneasiness with the financial debt problems in Greece, brought another problematic week for commodities.

Steel Production

Steel production had a nice little uptick last week and is up for the past few weeks, but it is still well below last year.  

Oil Rig Count

One of the reasons for this low steel production in the U.S. is that the Oil rig count has now fallen for 27 weeks in a row, and is now at the lowest point in almost 5 years.  Related, imported finished steel remains a problem for U.S. steel mills, thereby hurting their production.  As has been reported, scrap yards have been experiencing multi year lows of incoming scrap coming into their yards, so prices rose a bit two weeks ago, which the chart shows. 

Steel Prices

Even with this ferrous increase, scrap flows remain very, very weak, as do profits.  Scrap yards that have mainly retail business remain under enormous profit pressure due to this low volume.  If the low growth continues in steel production, we could see another small increase in scrap steel prices due to the poor incoming scrap steel rate.  We know of one steel mill that stayed open this past Saturday in hopes of securing more incoming ferrous metal, due to the incoming scrap was so slow.

Copper Prices

Copper prices touched a three month low this morning and they remain near their 5 year low.  We see no catalyst that will cause an increase in copper prices anytime soon.  As we have discussed, China consumes 50% of the world’s copper and China is clearly not increasing their consumption.  The China slowdown has caused their government to drop interest rates multiple times in recent months to boost their economy and as we go to press, they may have dropped them again today.

Aluminum Prices 

Aluminum dropped a bit this week and is close to the 5+ year low it hit about a year ago.  We remain in the belief that aluminum prices are near their bottom due to aluminum inventories are hitting new 5+ year lows. 

Aluminum Inventory

With energy prices down in the past year, aluminum recycling is less of a driver, so again, there is little reason to believe aluminum prices will be coming up soon.

Congratulations to our David Gibb for being named one of the CFOs of the year in the Raleigh area.  Well done in a very tough market and well done in teaming with Fifth Third Bank in supporting our operations in these tough markets.  And more congratulations to Upstate Shredding and Columbus Recycling as they were both named Scrap companies of the year in their category by AMM.

Prices for Aluminum and copper were unchanged last week in Raleigh, Goldsboro and Wilson.

Steel and Junk cars we up.  Please call us at 919-828-5426 in Raleigh, 919-731-5600 in Goldsboro and 252-243-3586 in Wilson for prices. 

With that we hope all have a Safe and Profitable week.   Tune in next week for the Commodity and Recycling report.