Ferrous

In the Spotlight

Two of the scrap industry’s hottest topics came to the forefront during the Ferrous Spotlight session at the Annual Convention of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI) in Las Vegas.

Consolidation figured to be a topic, with session speakers including Al Cozzi of Metal Management, Chicago; Daniel Rifkin of OmniSource Corp., Fort Wayne, Ind.; Robert Philip of Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc., Portland, Ore.; and Fred Smith, the new president of the Philip Metals Inc. division of Philip Services Corp., Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

But joining consolidation as a topic on the stage was the Internet and the role of e-commerce in the future of scrap trading. Participants seemed to agree that consolidation would continue, but differed as to the potential of e-commerce to change the way ferrous scrap shippers do business. (See the separate ISRI Wrap-Up feature in this issue.)

Regarding ferrous pricing, varying degrees of price stability were forecast by the scrap industry leaders. Schnitzer’s Robert Philip noted that most Asian economies are on the rebound, though it may be another 18 months before factories there are consuming raw materials to the extent they were before the 1997 monetary crises. The rebound, for the most part, makes Schnitzer “optimistic for the future,” says Philip.

OmniSource’s Daniel Rifkin believes electric arc furnaces (EAFs) will continue to operate at increased capacities and demand more scrap and other melting units in the near future.