Hello, New to Scrapping - Buying

Hello everyone, I've recently found myself in a position where I need to buy several truckloads of scrap. I'm brand new to all the terminology, but as I understand it, it should be cast iron, HMS, or P&S. I've found several yards in the area that can begin to fill the orders, but none of them will tell me the price. They all ask me to tell them what I'll pay. Does anyone know the current going price per ton to BUY these groups of metals from a scrapyard? Some of the specifications are that they have to be free of rust, oil, grease... I'm shipping this across the great state of Texas to Laredo and here I am, not knowing much about the subject, but trying to act like I do so that we don't pay too much. Can anyone give me an idea? (I'm familiar with the price the scrapyard will pay $0.035/pound, just not what they'll sell it to me for, per ton.)

Any insight would help!

those specs may be difficult for a scrap yard to meet.

Welcome to the forum.

Welcome to SMF. You are stepping into the big leagues with a twig instead of a bat. The price of scrap is dropping by the day and that is why they want you to name your price. Find out the price your buyer will pay and then decide your profit margin. Good luck.

This is a pretty volatile market right now and if you don't really know your market it could all blow up in your face and leave you having to eat a 100 ton of heavy melt. Does your budget allow for that??

http://www.metalprices.com/pubcharts...&cs=1011&cid=0

MattIntheHat I think those are the most common specs for scrap metal. HMS is heavy metal steel, and P&S is plate and structural. I'm very new to this, but from what I've learned, that is the bread and butter for scrap re-sale?

Mechanic688 I'm hoping that the margins will be there, and I will only make a purchase if I can make money. I've got a good buyer in Laredo, Mexico that has given me a price that he will pay, I just am not familiar with what I should offer a scrap yard, being that I'm so new and don't know the market yet. Does anyone know the profit margin that scrap yards generally make?

I don't think it matters what percentage the scrap yard makes, for your purposes. You need to figure out your overhead, what will it cost you to transport the product across the border? Are you paying an employee? Subtract that number off what your buyer will pay. ex. buyer pays $200 GT - $50 overhead per ton = $150. You buy the scrap for $100 GT. That leaves you $50 per ton profit. Not sure if that is written clear, but it's monday.

Free of rust, oil and grease. Most everything at a scrapyard is going to be rusty, oily or greasy. Even If it is clean, its probably going to be mixed in with rusty stuff.

Find yourself a few shops that manufacture, weld, machine with a lot of heavy NEW steel.

Buy their scrap for a few dollars more/ton than the scrap yard is paying.

nutpie, thanks for the input, and thanks to everyone else. I guess, what I'm getting at, is if we know the general profit margin that a yard makes, I will be able to know that my offer is in the ballpark of the going rate. I already have my buyer, and I know his price, and I can estimate shipping, etc. The real question is, should I offer $90/gross ton, or $110/gross ton. Considering the amount that I'm going to be shipping on a weekly basis, that's a big difference. I was hoping by chance someone in this forum might have an idea what is the going price, before I walk in and make an offer and make a fool of myself, or get taken advantage of. I have a buyer that just started a foundry and will buy 3000/tons per week. They've got so much going on in other businesses, that they asked me to take care of this end. Tough problem to have hahah.