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One of the most important aspects of the scrap metal sector of the metal industry is to be able to effortlessly make large transactions in a short period of time. For this, one has to be careful about the identification of the scrap metal and their worth. Researching and participation in the market can be quite a helpful thing when it comes to pricing the scrap metal. Hence, one should always be prepared before coming to the market to purchase scrap metal.

In order to price your scrap metal right, you must figure out how to identify the metal, which can be quite confusing because these scraps can be of several hundred types, categorized into ferrous and non-ferrous groups.

It pays to know your metals. Hence, before making any purchase or transactions regarding scrap metals, start by researching online and absorbing information about your metals. There are a lot of reference documents on metal industries and their metals and comprehensive profiles of metals online.

When it comes to dealing with alloys, don’t price them as a whole, break them up and price each constituent separately. Let’s say, for a crate of Monel 400 scrap, which constitutes of Nickel (about 67% of the weight) and Copper (23% of the weight), it is easier to price the nickel and the copper separately.

Don’t always rely on self knowledge when identifying metals; it is advisable to have some portable identification tools at hand so that it is easier to identify some unknown metals. This not only saves time but is also an accurate way of identifying your scrap metals in the metal industry. Invest in good tools such as XRF ( X-Ray fluorescence) analyzers.

Also, remember to take in the factors in extra conditions into account. No buyer, mills or even scrap dealers would want to buy corroded or unclean metal, scraps are no different! Hence ensure that your scrap metals are kept in good and favourable conditions. You can add these extra costs for maintenance into the selling price, because there are plenty of dealers who wouldn’t mind paying an extra amount for good quality scraps.

In order to extract maximum profits out of your metal business, one should learn to be market savvy. This means that one should be involved in the market activities as much as possible so as to be aware of the prevailing conditions in the market. This way, intuitions are gained and bargaining skills polished! Be updated about scrap pricing by information published by metal markets and other associated publications. Also pay attention to the news and learn to take advantage of the current situation in the metal markets. Example: Suppose there is a strike at the Bauxite mine in Guinea, consider the effects of this event on your scrap metal’s value, say aluminum and weigh the pros and cons; i.e. whether it would be better to hold onto the scrap you have at the moment and expect depletion in mill inventory or to do the opposite, whichever is more profitable.

The metal industry and the people concerned can finally heave a sigh of relief after reading the recent news! The stainless steel market has made an impressive comeback. Although the outlook is healthier, but it is not yet robust at the moment.

A year ago, the market for specialty metals stainless steels was not in such a good position. Now, things are beginning to look up. According to Michael Stateczny, the chairman of the Specialty Steel Industry of the market development committee of North America, the year 2008-09 was a very difficult period for their industry and he also expressed relief that the things are improving.

Terry Hartford, Pittsburgh-based ATI Allegheny Ludlum’s senior vice president pointed out that they were now seeing steadier and more gradual recovery in a number of their end-markets after going through the worst recession in seventy years.

Markus Moll, a senior market analyst, however, advises word of caution to the people in the metal industry stating that he was not going to assume that the rise in orders in the specialty metals market earlier this year would provide enough momentum to sail smoothly through for the rest of the year.

The director of strategic sourcing for Castle Metals, Franklin Park, Ill, Rick Lazzari said that the customers of the metal industries are holding off their purchases on the assumption and expectation that the prices of the raw materials, including stainless steel would drop further.

The specialty metal inventories in the service center have increased as per a metal bulletin research of London. The Bulletin Research recorded a declined 8.4% in service center stainless steel shipments from the past month. A year earlier, the figure was about 10.1%. Because of the decline in the shipment orders, the quantity of steel in the distributor inventories shot up to 343,500 tons which is about 21% more than the figure a year earlier and  6.3% more than the figures in April.

However, not all service centers are experiencing bloats in their inventories. The president and chief executive of Metals USA Inc. shared the information that they always kept their stainless steel inventories quite close to the vest at all times, including boom periods because they know that the things affected by the commodities that trade on the London Metal Exchange is volatile and may not follow true life because one never knows what is going on in the speculator’s mind.

According to Bill Sales, the senior vice president of nonferrous operations for Reliance Steel and Aluminum Co. in Los Angeles, things would get better but not instantaneously, it would take time. Sales also pointed out that price volatility would continue.

As of now, a majority of the distributors and producers of stainless steel and other specialty metals are looking forward to earning gradual gains in the second half of this year and anticipating even more gains in the next year, 2011.

Thinking of planting a firm presence in the metal industry? Are you considering starting a metal business but don’t know how to go about it? Well, read on, this article is all about the analyzing of all the successful aspects or components of a metals business plan for the purpose of obtaining the first approval from your investors!

As with any other business, the metals business is not to be taken lightly. It is crucial that one has a genuine interest in starting such a business and the best way to do that is to establishing an effective business plan which is the first step into the formal organization of metals and metal industry. This business plan conceived by you will be your first formal map which contains your strategies and how to go about achieving your goals. When you have a solid plan in hand, you have more chances of not straying away from the objective.

According to the format recommended by the U.S small business administration, the following sections should be included in every metals business plan in order to separate it from the crowd:

1. Executive Summary – As the name implies, a brief summary of your business’ background must be included in your metals business plan. This should be composed right at the last because it is easier that way.

1. Market Analysis – Before you invest in metals, it is wise to evaluate the environment of the market that you are entering. In the real world, coming prepared always prepares you for handling the situation better.

1. Company description – the name says it all. Simply describe your company and highlight the unique components of your business that sets it apart from the other competitors in the market and makes it truly “a cut above the rest”. Also include the organization and management of the company in a no-nonsense way so as to show the reader that you have the right potential for being a successful metals businessmen.

1. Marketing and sales sector – Include your marketing strategies and the techniques you would use to find customers for buying your metal products. Also include plans for sustainable growth of your business.

1. Product Line – You should not necessarily be limited to products, you can also go for services. However make sure you have a detailed plan to come across as a more focused businessmen.

1. Money – Explain in details the amount of funding required and where the money would be channelised.

If you have personnel with materials science or a metallurgy background, include that too. Facility security is of utmost importance in some metals business; hence include arrangements of security guards, anti-theft solutions, preferably professional, for safeguarding whatever metals you are dealing with.

With all these points in mind, you should not have a problem creating your own metals business plan for a bright and prosperous future in the metal industry. Good Luck!

Metallurgy. We hear this term quite often and as we all know, metallurgy go hand in hand with the metal industry; it is an integral part of the latter.

So what is metallurgy after all? Well, to put it in simple words, metallurgy can be defined as the study of the physical and chemical behavior of metals, alloys, metallic elements and intermetallic compounds. It is a domain of materials science.

Also known as “the technology of metals”, metallurgy deals with the way in which science is applied in the metals department for their practical use. Metallurgy is not only associated with the metal industry but also associated with the industries that deal with the craft of metalworking.

Metallurgy is not concerned with only one activity; it consists of al lot of practices and processes, one such being extractive metallurgy. This means the practice of removing valuable metals from the ore and then refining it into a more usable and purer form. This can be done electrolytically, chemically or even physically! Since the metal industry is concerned with only the extracted metals and not the ore as a whole, extractive metallurgy is an integrated and indispensable part of the metal industry.

Apart from extracting, metallurgy is also concerned with the production process. It deals with the production of components, obviously metals, to be used for manufacturing engineering products or consumer products. This is a complex procedure which involves the production of alloys in the first stage, followed by the shaping of such extracted metals. The shaping procedure is done by means of the heat treatment as well as surface treatment of the product. Metallurgists (people who practice metallurgy) have a hard task of achieving the balance between the material properties (strength, hardness, rigidity, corrosion, cost, weight, etc) and even ensuring that these metals do not fail to perform in temperature extremes.

Metalworking processes are a part of metallurgy. In this process, the metals are shaped into the desired shapes by various processes such as casting, molding, forging, sintering, machining, fabrication, flow forming or rolling of the metals. The idea is to alter the shape of the original material into the desired shape. Needless to say, a lot of beating, hammering, cutting with guillotines, passing the metals through narrow rollers, etc is involved.

While we all know that when metals are heated, the properties of such metals are altered and it is most vulnerable and can be manipulated, but did you know that there are plenty of cold working processes as well? It means to alter the shape of the metals when it is cold. When carried out properly, the strength of the metal can be increased further by a process called work hardening, which creates very minute, microscopic defects on the surface of the metal, which makes it resistant to further changes of its shape.

Why is copper so important in the metal industry? Just google “copper industry” and you will get umpteen names of industries that are based on copper. Copper (Chemical symbol – Cu) is one of the best conductors of electricity of all metals and is extensively used by the metal industries which manufacture wires. Defined by some as “the material that tied the world together in telecommunications”, Copper is indeed very versatile and can be put to plenty of uses, and most importantly, it is available in abundance.

An interesting fact about copper is that the Statue of Liberty is covered in more than 62,000 pounds of copper! The distinct green colour of the statue is because of the exposure to air. Also known as patina, this condition resulted in the first 25 years after the statue was placed.

It is very easy to identify copper because of its light reddish colour, which can change to a gritty green colour when oxidized. Copper is used widely in not only metal industry but also in industries manufacturing jewelry, circuit boards, water pipes and the architectural sector.

Let us look back into the past of this humble metal and understand more about its origin. According to the discoveries made by archaeologists, copper was the first metal to be used by the Neolithic mankind. They used copper as a substitute for stone tools.

That was 10,000 years ago. In 2002, the top six sectors of consumption of copper in North America were the building wire sector, plumbing and heating, in automotive, power utilities, refrigeration, telecommunications and air conditioning.

According to the International Copper Association, in the year 2003, the global consumption of copper was about 21 million short tons. And this amount has increased over the years. Some of the leading producers of copper are from mines in Asia, Africa, North and South America and the Middle East.

After extraction from ores that are rich in copper sulfides, copper is refined and then converted into different industrial forms and then sold. Coppers are usually sold as copper cathodes. One of the advantages of copper is that it is readily and easily recyclable.

You will be surprised to know that most of the items in our life are directly or indirectly related to Copper. For example: Bronze, which is used in coins, artworks or cymbals, consist of 90-95% copper by weight. Brass, which is used to make door knobs, is about 50-90% of Copper by weight. Nickel silver, which appears similar to silver, is not made up of silver, but 60% of it is copper. Also copper is used in cookware as well, because of its ability to draw heat to the food stored inside such cookware.