Originally Posted by
TheeFirewoodGuy
In my part of the country, scrap steel is selling for $70 a ton and copper is selling for $1.80 a pound.
The cheapest brand new washing machine from the store is selling for $300.
After a trip to the scrapyard today, I got to thinking. About a year ago, scrap steel was selling for $280 a ton and copper was selling for $4.10 a pound...
And the cheapest brand new washing machine from the store was selling for $300!
Scrap has fluctuated drastically in the last year, yet the price of a low end washing machine hasn't changed. And that's what got me thinking: How much money is each party making from a ton of scrap steel? You have 5 parties involved:
1. Scrapper.
2. Scrapyard.
3. Processor.
4. Factory.
5. Store.
How much do you think the scrapyard sells metal to the processing plant for?
How much do you think the processing plant sells ingots to the factories for?
(I was guessing that from scrapper to the store, there is a markup of 160% on average each step.)
When steel was at $280 a ton, copper was at $4.10 a pound and washing machines were selling for $300 a piece, who was making the most money?
(Sorry if this post isn't very clear. I sometimes have trouble putting my thoughts into words because my mind moves too fast.)
alot of great post here, but your 5 steps are at least 15, at bare minimum there is logistics between each of those steps(transportation) and between that scrap yard and the mill there can be up to 5 entities handling the material. from scrap to product in your home has many many steps, Oh. BTW scrap is only one source of raw material, there is still the mines to contend with. and they are directly in competition with the scrap industry
V/r HT1
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