| Metal Recycling |
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Excerpt: Marchitto said that what would otherwise be a typical supply-and-demand issue has been made worse by the tightening of global credit markets. Lenders aren't willing to make loans to companies that borrow large amounts to purchase metals because of the decline in the value of metals . "It's now bringing everything to a halt," Marchitto said. "The worldwide financial crisis is a lot bigger and more encompassing than anybody realizes."
Garino said a turnaround in the prices of scrap metals and other commodities depends on a rebound in industrial production. That would be determined by depth and length of the current economic recession. In each of the past two months, national industrial output shrunk by 0.7 percent, excluding the effects of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike and a strike at Boeing Co., according to the Federal Reserve. And it's not just the U.S. economy that would have to rebound. China, a major buyer of scrap materials of all kinds, has seen demand fall as its economy slows. "What we're experiencing is a global phenomenon," Garino said. "We have slumping auto sales, slumping housing sales, slumping consumer consumption — it feeds all the way through the supply chain." Source: Ward, Getahn. "Downturn crushes scrap metal industry." Tennessean, The (Nashville, TN). 26 Nov. 2008: Access World News. NewsBank. University of Texas at San Antonio, John Peace Library. San Antonio, TX. 24 Apr 2009 ------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpt: The aim of this project, known as SORMEN, is to develop a technology for the separation of scrap metal from electronic waste based on a system of multispectral vision and incorporate it into the process of a recycling plant. This new machine overcomes the limitations of current, basically manual, methods which consume a large amount of manual labour and time and which are unable to separate metals whose characteristics of colour, shape and weight are similar. The solution proposed by TECNALIA enables the separating of elements of the same colour - such as aluminum, nickel or stainless steel -, employing the recycling of these materials to the full. It represents a highly significant advance over other techniques of separation based on colour vision and useful for other processes such as separating lead impurities, from copper for example. In the case of aluminum, for example, the system designed by TECNALIA will enable the recovery of between 30 and 40% more of this metal. Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090205083519.htm ------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpt: News reports from around the world indicate that steelmakers are cutting back output as steel-intensive activities such as infrastructure projects in China, construction in the Middle East and automotive demand in the developed world have all been hitting slow patches at the same time. Based on late October activity, one recycler anticipates that November pricing will be lower yet. There are some factors that could lead to a pricing floor in the near future, including: • A more consolidated steel industry that continues to cut output • A decline in scrap generation because of fewer demolition projects, peddlers disappointed in reduced scale pricing, and auto dismantlers holding on to hulks • Renewed buying in December by mills preparing for potential severe January and February weather • A change in consumer psychology and economic activity if lending revives and stock markets stabilize. Source: http://www.cdrecycler.com/articles/article.asp?ID=5203&AdKeyword=metal |
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