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Hi my name is Franklin I am from South Africa I have been interested in recycling for many years but never had the chance to do it a friend and I have rented some land and would like to find out more on the business of scraping and who are the companies who buy the scrap in bulk and what is the going rate per kilo or ton. Kind regards
Welcome to the Scrap Metal Forum. I hope you find the information you are looking for, I have no idea, I'm just small time.
Welcome , you can search the forum but you are taking on a huge endeavor
companies buying in bulk... mills and foundaries, typically publically traded corporations (not all of course). Prices they pay... well near prices listed on Kitco.com
The true "bulk buyers" in the industry are probably out of your league for the time being, unless you've got ~$500,000+ (US) cash, to purchase material. Not to mention the customer base to buy it from; this takes time. I would suggest finding the biggest and best scrap processing facility in your area and getting a price list. 1st know what you can sell it for, next deduct what you need to make to be successful at this endeavor (i.e. expenses, help, equipment, TRANSPORTATION), then make a bank withdraw and start buying locally. Scrappers are loyal, build a customer base. All the while develop a relationship with the local government and be a good corporate citizen. People have a bad view of the industry and panic when they hear a new "junk yard" is opening up in town. As for strategy, work primarily with lower grade material, less risk per dollar invested. Don't turn down anything, but don't just pile up copper in the corner hoping to play the market. That is a game no one wins. Try to sell the expensive stuff as soon as you buy it, take the money and run. Try to build your business on the cheaper stuff, the price is more stable so you have more time to do your value added work.
Thank you for the reply so for the ignorance but we just starting off and would like to know what would one buy metal for per kilo here in South Africa people bring metal to you to buy so what I would like to know is what we can offer them when they bring stuff like copper and other metals also once we have bought the metals do we have to sell it to someone in S.A that would export it over seas we have moved to a town what has an abundance of metals
What you buy it for is directly related to what you can sell it for. For example Cu might trade for 3.50 in the financial markets, so that is what it is worth. You aren't trading the contracts so you cannot get 3.50 for it. You might be able to find a broker who sells to a foundry. The broker might get 3.50 or close, but he is going to give you a little less. The difference is his profit. You must determine what you can do to process the material and how much it costs to do so and or to store it, including risk. Deduct that from the price you can get from the broker, and that or less is what you can pay for it. This is the standard business model from my experience.