Copper Prices Drop $0.60 – 3/16/22

Posted on by Tom Buechel

HOLD OR SELL NON-FERROUS
HOLD OR SELL FERROUS

War Leading the Markets

Happy Wednesday! 

With the markets returning to levels that we saw three weeks ago before the Ukrainian war started, we have seen prices return across the board except on the steel front. We have seen copper prices drop down almost $0.60 per pound from their peak, and overall we are not upset with where the market prices are.

Many world events will trigger a domino effect on commodities markets, and this is precisely what we have been seeing over the last few weeks. Regardless of how stable the US economy is, the US economy still has to depend on the world economy for a better idea and focus moving forward. These are some of the issues that we are looking at regarding foreign wars and how they can creep into prices from copper to oil.

Non-Ferrous Prices & Market Status

  • Copper – SELL

  • Aluminum – SELL

  • Brass – SELL

  • Copper Wire – HOLD

  • Stainless Steel – SELL

With copper prices continuing to stay very strong, We see the market continuing to show strength through the end of this month, with the potential pullback starting the second or third quarter of the year. This bull market that we have been a part of for the last year and a half has shown that metal prices are continuing their increase. These prices will stop going up and have to level off at one point. While this will not be something you’re going to read, we try to talk about things and how they could happen.
 
With so much US currency being printed over the last two years, we are starting to see that effect in the form of inflation. This is directly affecting the prices of commodities and regular everyday items. When you have metal commodities and oils and wheat and other grains increasing in value, you’re going to have a significant problem when it comes to traditional consumer markets and goods and services. These price increases on the different commodities fronts have now spilled over and into the world of consumers, and we will start to see pullbacks in other companies’ outlooks, and that will be the beginning of what could be our first recession since 2008.

Non-Ferrous Price Chart of the Week

 

Ferrous Prices & Market Status

  • #1 Steel –SELL

  • Shreddable Steel – SELL

  • Light Iron –SELL

  • Cast Iron – SELL

  • Complete Car – SELL

Not completely surprising, but we have started to see the pricing on steel and iron drastically increasing over the last month. We have now seen the prices increasing about $60-$70 per ton overall, and these markets could see a further uptick come April. But with the price of oil and gas starting to reseed, we will not be surprised to see these prices also decreasing in May and June. While the demand is there for the iron markets, the runner-up was unexpected and will cause large companies to flood the market with prices this high.

Ferrous Price Chart of the Week

Catalytic Converter Prices & Market Status

  • Catalytic Converters – SELL

With Palladium, Rhodium, and Platinum prices having seen drastic decreases over the last two weeks, we have begun to see the markets retreating from the crazy run-up that we saw a few weeks ago. Those markets went crazy because the supply of Palladium (see chart below) out of Russia became a real consumer problem because of how semiconductors and the catalytic converter industries.

We saw a pullback in the markets recently. The RRCats.com Team has watched these markets closely and quoting with current markets. We have seen many buyers dropping out of the markets during abnormal conditions like we are seeing now. That’s something significant to keep in mind when you look for stability.

Other Things

Thank You.

We have a couple of videos and podcasts that feature interviews with family inside the scrap business and scrappers. If you’re looking to be featured, interviewed, or even interview any of the people at iScrap, let us know so we can get it together.

– Tom

 

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