📈 Check Scrap Prices: https://iScrapApp.com/ - We have seen copper cross over the $4.00/lb threshold and has traded three days in a row. That’s excellent news on China having completely reopened and lifting all their Covid policies. Many people predict this will lead to a short-term economic surge if the country, but it may only be short-lived.

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📈 Check Scrap Prices: https://iScrapApp.com/ - These markets significantly increased over the last six weeks. We saw the market go up $40-$50 per ton, even in smaller and more desolate parts of the country. We are reading and seeing prices reported of increases of at least $10-$15 per time. One thing we’re continuing to watch is the oil prices.

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📈 Check Scrap Prices: https://iScrapApp.com/ - Tom discusses how various international and domestic news affected steel prices across the globe. Read more below 👇

2022 Recap
Looking back at 2022, we've seen a roller coaster of prices in the steel markets. Going back to January, we saw the light iron prices in the $160-$200 per ton range. From there, we started to see it slow, an increase that peaked during the month of April, and from there, we saw a steady decline throughout the end of the year.

One of the reasons we saw the prices decrease was possibly recessionary fears coupled with large oil and gas price increases. All of those oil-related things really contributed to the markets, having a large run-up in oil prices and a decline in other commodity prices, with the Ferrous market being hit especially hard in the second half of 2022.

Rotors
Other steel grades, like rotors, had an average between $230 and $300 per ton at year-long averages, and prices peaking back in April 2022 at around $370 per ton. These heavier and higher steel grades will always draw higher prices, and we recommend saving them from cashing in when you have 500 pounds or more in your scrap yard. Going into 2023, this holds true as the grades generally don't have big price differences from year to year because of their grade of steel.

Unprepared #1
Unprepared #1 prices average between $200-250 per ton throughout the year. Prices in April peaked around $300- 320 per ton, and from there, we started to see the same decline, which would be industry standard across the entire market.

Light Iron/Shred
Many people report prices on light iron and shred material, and while these materials could have a higher price directly to the shredders, they have been one of the more heavily hit markets in the country. We saw prices in October dipping down in some areas to below $40 per ton, even though we started to see a price increase in December.

Outlook
With many recessionary fears still being heavily promoted and possibly already in the middle of it, we do not expect the first half of 2023 to have strong steel prices. With oil still at high ranges and demand looking to wane down as recessionary fears grow, we do not expect manufacturers to be very aggressive when purchasing raw materials.

One of the things that we looked at during the second half of 2022 was the excess inventory that many manufacturing companies had, which means that they overbought material During 2021 and the first half of 2022, which led to an oversupply of their finished goods. With the recession possibly hitting consumers and slowing down their purchases, we expect these markets to continue to be relatively weak compared to 2021 overall prices and even the first half of 2022.

We will continue to update you weekly, but overall we are happy with what we saw in 2022 as an average, even though many months were tough to deal with.

📈 Check Scrap Prices: https://iScrapApp.com/ - Tom reviews the latest trends in 2022 for Aluminum Scrap Prices and where the markets are heading into 2023. Read more below 👇

Recap
Like all metal prices in 2021, when we saw multiple records achieved- what we saw in 2022 was anything but record-breaking. We started to see pricing level off after massive increases in 2021. While aluminum was one of the highlights at the end of 2021, we began to see the market recovering after a slowdown nearing the end of 2022 and turning a favorable position moving into 2023.

Prices
The average price of sheet aluminum throughout the year was around $.45 per pound, with this market peaking in the $.60 range earlier in 2022. Sheet aluminum is generally one of the most popular aluminum grades for scrappers and is one of the bell weathers when you want to learn about aluminum prices.

6063-grade aluminum averaged around $.75 per pound throughout 2022, with some of the prices peeking over $1.00 for multiple weeks. Overall these markets showed the same slowdown that many of the other prices did, which is not surprising when you look at what happened with all commodities throughout the year. While many scrappers do not deal with these grades, we advise you to check out the metal prices in the videos we made on them, as grades like aluminum 6061 and 6063 can be two areas where you improve your productivity and your profitability when it comes to scrapping.

Aluminum cans are another industry standard price where we saw the average throughout the year around $.55. We did see some higher prices touching near $.70 per pound overall. This market saw a bit of a turndown in the year's second half, which should not be a shock by now.

Outlook
Going into 2023, we expect the aluminum markets to remain strong as they continue to strengthen themselves over the last two months of 2022. Where they're going to end up is still yet to be seen. However, there still is a very large demand for aluminum as it's being used in more auto manufacturing and other industries like the aerospace industry, which is coming back online after large decreases in 2020.

📈 Check Scrap Prices: https://iScrapApp.com/ - Tom jumps in to give you the latest on where catalytic converter prices were in 2022 and where they are going in 2023, read more below.

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Recap
2022 was a very funny year for the catalytic converter business. After seeing all-time record high prices in 2021, many people thought the market would continue to stay the same or have large increases throughout the year. That proved very wrong as we saw things like the Ukrainian invasion and a lack of demand for many types of high-temperature metals.

Platinum
Let's start with platinum, used not only in the auto catalyst industry but also in the jewelry industry and many other places. One of the nice things about Platinum is that it is used in multiple places, which should give it a higher valuation because of its multiple uses. We saw Platinum prices peaking in March at around $1150 per ounce and hitting a low of around $825 per ounce. Overall we saw the average right around $1000 per ounce, which is a very strong number, all things considered. Platinum is one of the major elements in most gas catalytic converters, so we want those prices to remain strong.

Palladium
Next up is Palladium which we saw top out around $3040 per ounce in March 2022. These prices took a very large decline, with the average for the year around $2000 per ounce, and thus saw a 50% decrease from the highs we saw during March. Overall, we saw the market drop to the lowest $1700 per ounce but averaging slightly above $2000 per ounce throughout the year was still a very strong number.

Rhodium
The rhodium market saw incredibly high prices in June 2021, closing in on $30,000 per ounce, but those prices were nowhere near being matched in 2022. The high price for rhodium ended up being around $21,000 per ounce, with the low price being around $12,000 per ounce. Unfortunately, that was in December 2022, which means we saw a very large decline throughout the year. Overall we saw the average is around $13,500 per ounce throughout 2022, and if you want to pull the news out of that, you can think that the average price is closer to the bottom of the barrel than the top of the barrel. That means we did see large decreases very quickly, which averaged out throughout the year.

Cat Pricing
Foreign pre-catalytic converters averaged around $45 throughout the year, and larger grades, such as XL foreign catalytic converter's averaged over $400. Some of the higher grades of catalytic converters, such as exotic foreign‘s averaged over $600 per cat. Still, some of those prices can be skewed because of serial numbers and different grades across the country.

Many of the price averages that we have on individual catalytic converter sales come to us through the team at RRCats.com, as they have been able to work with many people across the country and the recycling of their catalytic converters.

2023 Preview
While many people may think that the catalytic converter industry is dying, electric vehicles are becoming increasingly popular and infiltrating the markets. We tend to believe that the catalytic converter prices will remain at very high levels in 2023 compared to the years before 2021.

We're seeing the industry demand for gas engines continuing to want to have more carbon emissions put on them, meaning more high-temperature valuable precious metals like the ones we spoke of above are going to be needed for these catalytic converters. We tend to think that the markets will be very strong, and we hope to see these prices continuing throughout 2023 at a high level.

Tom goes through the 2022 Recap for copper, brass, and insulated wire. Read more below for the full recap and 2023 outlook.

2022 Recap
What you'll find in all of our different recaps of 2022 is that April was the best month to sell materials. That being said, we still saw solid averages in 2022 for materials like yellow brass, insulated copper wire, and other grades of copper scrap.

Bare Bright
Throughout the year, stripped copper wire averaged $3.65 per pound. These numbers peaked in April when some prices were above $4.00. Overall, compared to years in the past, we saw a solid market throughout 2022. After we saw many of the same patterns of higher oil and fuel prices, we started to see the pullback on many copper prices in June 2022. While there still is a demand for many of these materials, one of the biggest fears is a worldwide recession which could be happening as you read this and potentially going into more of an effect in 2023.

#2 Copper
#2 Copper averaged around $3.00 per pound for the year, and that's an excellent average. Many people have talked about the price going back to $4.00 per pound for copper, but this does not seem realistic given the current market conditions and the world economy. Even though the electric vehicle market and the eventual electrification of the grid, moving away from coal and natural gas and towards renewable energy sources, will increase the usage of copper, we have yet to see that taking rate effect right now.

Yellow Brass
Yellow brass averaged just above two dollars per pound in 2022, with prices topping out at around $2.30 per pound. Some of the lower reported prices were in the $1.50 range, but overall we saw solid numbers across the country for reported yellow brass prices. Of course, the brass price will be dictated heavily by the copper and zinc markets, but we are very happy with what we saw at the end of 2022 and predict strong markets in the first half of 2023.

We don't want to leave out items like insulated copper wire as they will follow similar trends to the last few metals we discussed. But we saw THHN Wire around $2.33 as a year average topping out around $2.$.75. Insulated copper wire averaged just below one dollar per pound overall, and those prices top around $1.25.

Outlook for 2023
The demand for copper will stay strong for a while, but the usage and the speed of consumption will be something to look for in 2023. Many parts of the world continue to move away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy. we are watching these markets closely. One major thing to remember is that any type of economic pullback, whether in the United States or across the world, will affect copper prices as these markets are international and traded, taking into account all economic and political environments.

This is a significant thing to remember as many people need to remember that copper is a worldwide traded commodity, unlike the stock market, which has multiple US based companies. The prices for copper and all commodities is dictated by worldwide supply and demand. With a lot of recessionary fears, as well as different political environments across the world, they’re still going to be a lot to figure out when it comes to copper prices in 2023.

Copper prices over the last week we've seen a very nice increase, with markets going up about $0.10 per pound. These increases were not expected but are certainly welcomed. 

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Aluminum prices have strengthened by 4 to 6% over the last few weeks. That may not seem like a lot, but a lot of the market movements are going up and down 2 to 3%, sometimes daily. Aluminum prices have...

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We read an article this week about the power of copper and how the market may still be getting ready to go higher. This article discusses the massive electricity demand, with global electricity consumption potentially doubling by 2050.

With the electric and solar push across the world, we may continue to see copper prices increase and demand increase over the next few years. While this is more of a big-picture view, this does give us an insight into where the copper markets could be headed, and we may be at or near the bottom of the market for the foreseeable future.

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Last week we saw copper prices increase by about $0.35. Overall, since Friday, November 4, we've seen an increase of about $0.45 altogether.

One of the primary reasons we saw the increase in this market is that the Chinese are talking about lifting COVID protocols, which could jumpstart more materials consumed.

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