OK Summers Over!

**hobo finds** · 09-10-2015, 07:49 PM

Prices go back up right?

**NewbyScrapper** · 09-10-2015, 08:24 PM

Not here to your post subject line. Freaking mid to high 80s all this week in SFO Bay area.Vey unusual.
Gotta be hotter in AZ tho.

Prices? Dunno, I rarely do steel and holding out a bit longer for Al U minium, SS and copper.

**greytruck** · 09-10-2015, 08:31 PM

Usually it seems that steel prices drop in october.

**bigburtchino** · 09-10-2015, 08:40 PM

I don't know about scrap prices going up. Temperatures for most of September have been above 100, yesterday 107 and a 1/2 inch of rain, one hour later, couldn't even tell it had rained. Just plain miserable to work in!

**Scrappah** · 09-10-2015, 09:19 PM

Same old tune i'm afraid. We're still in the deflationary phase of the recession. It's apt to be awhile before prices finally bottom out and begin to stabilize. How long ? I have no idea. ( It probably won't be short term. )

**bigburtchino** · 09-10-2015, 10:20 PM

Maybe we hit bottom on August 26-28, as all base metals have had a modest gains since then. May just be wishful thinking on my part, looking at one year charts for all metals, last week in August was the low point for all except gold. I wouldn't look for price increases for scrap metals to rise anytime soon though (always drops faster than it recovers).

**hobo finds** · 09-10-2015, 10:20 PM

We used to have a Summer Price Drop not every year but still Memorial Day thru Labor Day prices down. I know that's not the case anymore! But can you still where white after Labor Day?

**matador** · 09-10-2015, 10:48 PM

Just for you, Hobo, I'll post this:

You can try to get her to help, but realistically out here, they're still going down. I think we're at the price floor, but only because we're at $0. I highly doubt they'll go up before spring, if they go up then....

**Scrappah** · 09-11-2015, 03:52 PM

< sigh > Seems like we were having the same discussion last fall. Prices were off, and the consensus was to stockpile till things got better. Everyone hoped for a change. Every so often a blip on the daily charts offered some encouragement but the increase never materialized.

During the past year we've seen a lot of yards go out of business,steel mills decrease production, and lots of scrappers leave the trade simply because they couldn't make a go of it anymore.

I think i understand why but it's hard to explain. When things were going good it was because of all the borrowed money out there. It overheated the global economy and created artificially high demand. Ordinary people, businesses, and world governments were all living beyond their means and spending like there was no tomorrow.

When you borrow money you have a good day today but you're robbing your future. The day comes round when you have to pay all that money back with interest. That day is now. The bill has come due. It's like they say : Payback is a b*tch !

They had their glory days and now they have to suffer through the consequence of their choice. It's gonna take them awhile to get dug out. It won't happen overnight or even in the following months.

In all honesty, i think we're looking at a long term period of global economic sluggishness. It's likely to be another ten years.

Prices will bottom out at some point and then just stay there.

I would love to be dead wrong on this !

Keep an eye on energy prices because they tie in closely with the cost of producing metals. If the average cost of a gallon of gas at the pump goes down that's a bad sign. If the average across the nation gets back up over 3.00 USD per gallon that might be sign that things will improve.