January 15, 2016
To The Loyal Customers of Kimmel Scrap Iron:
Another year has passed and if you are in the scrap metal business we can all say collectively good riddance. The year 2015 has been an extremely challenging year from many perspectives. This is the year that we saw mainline ferrous scrap commodity prices fall over 50% in one year. Many expect continued attrition in both scrap metal yards in the U.S. as well as production capacity in both ferrous and non-ferrous facilities. Most prognosticators are not predicting any large swings in either market during 2016. In order for prices to increase, we need to either lower imports of foreign new steel, have an increase in demand from foreign markets or an increase in production by America’s Steel Industry. As of the first week in January, Steel Mills in the U.S. were operating at less than 67% of capacity, compared to the 2014 time period and operating at better than 76%.
We continue to manage expenses to reduce our costs and allow us to be the most cost effective operator around. I am very fortunate to have an extremely talented team working at Kimmel Scrap. In the event I am not available I am confident they can handle any issue, resolve any problem and provide service better than anyone.
I wish all of our customers, friends; a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.
Sincerely,
Robert
Office 313-934-1100
Robert Kimmel-100 Nicole Lamar-107
T.J. Yarema 103 Ken Schutt-102
Carol Caie-115 Al Brown-105
