Will High Oil Prices Cause Scrap Drop Off? – 4/6/22

Posted on by Tom Buechel

HOLD OR SELL NON-FERROUS
HOLD OR SELL FERROUS

Welcome to April!

The first three months of the year are behind us, and we’re continuing to see increased prices on the horizon. We’re watching these prices, and they have continued to go up over the last week. We’ve seen copper prices increase by $0.15 a pound, and iron prices have increased again. Overall, we are seeing a market that does not seem to consider outside influences as it continues to bowl forward and push into a stronger position. 

Many fear that with the oil prices increasing, we will see a significant pullback take place over the next few months, with a very weak third quarter in a second quarter going into the summer that will remain relatively flat. If it stays relatively flat, that is a good thing for the Scrap market, considering the prices are already at elevated heights.

Non-Ferrous Prices & Market Status

  • Copper – SELL

  • Aluminum – SELL

  • Brass – SELL

  • Copper Wire – SELL

  • Stainless Steel – SELL

With the nickel market being upset a few weeks ago, we’ve seen a little bit of a calm down over the last two weeks with nickel prices dropping. With the price of nickel dropping, we will expect to see stainless steel prices either stabilizing or starting to have a smaller decline in the coming weeks. Overall, we’re still seeing a solid Stainless market with many areas of the country having prices for basic 304 Stainless reported in the $0.80-$0.90 per pound range. When you look at higher grades like 316 Stainless Steel, with prices upwards of $1.15 per pound, we are starting to see prices that we’ve never seen before, and it’s providing strong stability to a market that looks to continue to move forward.
 
Copper prices have shown more increase, with markets going up about $0.12-$0.15 over the last seven days. These markets continue to factor in the dynamic growth of not only the United States bro so many other areas of the world, and we are expecting to see the copper price stabilize for the foreseeable future. With projects like electric vehicles, solar panels, and wind forms completely taking over many areas of the country, we are starting to see great demands for copper continue. With the great need for copper continuing both domestically and internationally, we expect these prices to stay high for the foreseeable future, and we might be seeing a new normal for the copper markets. 

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

With oil prices slightly pulling back over the last few days, we did see little to no impact on the steel and the iron market. We have continued to see record-breaking growth in the previous two months, with markets increasing by over $100 per ton. Many areas of the country may not have that aggressive increase considering where and how far it takes different scrap yards in processors to move material. With high fuel costs, this will dampen some of the transportation and lead to slower increased pricing in other areas than areas like the coast or major urban areas in suburban areas with processing facilities near them.
 
With oil and gas prices expected to continue to increase over the coming months and years, we will expect to see these markets continuing to stay strong, at least for the next few months, and hopefully, we will not know any pullback.

Ferrous Price Chart of the Week

Catalytic Converter Prices & Market Status

  • Catalytic Converters – SELL

We’ve seen a very stable market over the last seven days, with prices barely changing. With markets barely changing we’ve seen catalytic converter prices averaging around $185 per catalytic converter, and that’s an excellent strong and stable price.

We see the markets stabilizing, and a lot of people have been taking advantage of continued free shipping on all OEM catalytic converters through www.RRCats.com today!

That’s All!

Thank You for tuning in again!

We have a couple of videos and podcasts that feature some interviews with family inside the Scrap business and with 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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