PSA: Scrap Prices are Down, Cheap Projects Everywhere!

someone needs to make this mistake.

The best part is seeing all the homebuilt scrap trailers selling for 3-500.

Local PAP is buying at 60 a ton. At its peak it was well over 200.

bravenrace wrote: Looking at this from a different perspective, I have a truck load of scrap to get rid of. Does anyone know why the prices are so low and if/when they will go back up?

If I or anyone knew the answer to that we would be filthy rich.

Short of it is that China is not making as much stuff they they have been in the past and hence they don't want our scrap.

Hmm, might be time for a true $500 banger rally again.

I just dropped off a load of yard waste at the landfill yesterday and they had a mountain of scrap steel. I guess the price is so low it's not even worth recycling at the moment.

Scrap prices are really low now:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-28/china-steel-chief-says-demand-evaporating-at-unprecedented-speed

Sounds like you can't even get financing if you're a steel mill.

I've heard stories of people with machine shops being told they can no longer have scrap steel bins for free; now the bins cost money and the steel disposal is free.

No wonder the Pick N Pull is chock full of running cars again.

So from a collector car standpoint, this situation sounds like the opposite of the much-maligned Cash For Clunkers program, which was blamed for wiping out the supply of old cars. With low scrap values today, old cars are not being scrapped as readily, and parts should be cheaper and more available to keep them running. Hey, for fans of cheap old cars, this may be the new golden age.

There was a clean, titled, running and driving 2003 Focus 2 door hatch with a stick on a local Craigslist group for $350 last week. If I had the room, I would have bought it for an autocross car. And people were arguing with the guy on the price!

In reply to SilverFleet: What the berkeley!? I might have bought it for $360 and laughed at the cheap ass hagglers.

I'd do a $500 BA/BE in this thing. http://allentown.craigslist.org/cto/5279908127.html

Alcoa to cut down smelting, refining capacity

Published: Nov 2, 2015 5:19 p.m. ET

By Claudia Assis Reporter

Alcoa Inc. AA, +2.69% on Monday said it would cut down on its aluminum smelting and alumina refining capacity to face falling aluminum prices. The reductions will start in the fourth quarter and last one year, the company said. "Alcoa has consistently taken decisive actions to create a commodity business that is positioned to succeed throughout the cycle," Chief Executive Klaus Kleinfeld said in a statement. The company will idle smelters in Washington state and New York, and curb refining capacity at a Texas facility.

In reply to Woody:

I suppose with the prices falling that's not surprising. I'm actually a bit interested in how much aluminum is being recycled back into different industries as Ford is using more and more and other manufacturers appear to be getting ready to jump on the bandwagon.

Really sucks. I have two bare Focus SVT shells in my garage that I will likely have to pay someone to take to the scrapper.

scrap prices all most all ways coincide with cheaper gas prices

I still get a laugh because back in 03-04 i was scrapping for extra money in highschool. Tin sheet was 20 a ton, good steel was 40 a ton. The high prices recently ruined us all.

http://austin.craigslist.org/cto/5297985802.html

Here you go. Babe, stalker, and Challenge legal. Probably pre-stripped and lightened. Maybe a good support vehicle.

I just heard from my scrap guy that cars will be $35 dollars at the weigh station no Shizzle ! Scrap gonna hit all time low You heard it here first

Well, I might buy a friend's civic for a little more than scrap then. It would be a tricky flip to fix and sell, but I could part it.

I don't have time to make the Focus smogable, thus legal for sale, so looks like it's going to the boneyard. The local yard pays $125 for pickup. RIP Focus.