Long time browser, first time poster, and I'd like very much if we could just get right into it:



Everywhere I turn I just keep hearing bad news. I'm sure most of you were lucky enough to have ridden the artificial demand from the Chinese building boom. I wasn't so lucky and I'm really starting to reconsider the industry I've gotten myself into. I've heard some yards around here say prices will bounce back in the summer (I don't know why; they usually go down in the summer for me). I really can't see any reason for optimism in the next few years, at least not in the metal market.

I've seen a few posters suggesting now is the time to propagate deals, but I find that harder to do because I'm hesitant to pay for material. Space is at a premium here so I can't hold on to anything for too long, but I'm also operating out of a residential area, so I can't just convert from collections to processing, it'd be too noisy. What do you guys do in situations like this? Hoard and hope?