Voice of the industry: addressing the scrap crisis.

With ferrous raw material prices reaching record highs and availability becoming more scarce, metalcasters and raw material suppliers have a lot to talk about. Here is what some of them had to say:

On Economics ...

"The laws of supply and demand say the price goes up. Things will run rampant for a while, but it is going to stop and come down a lot faster than it went up.--A Ferrous Raw Material Supplier"

"It is, very serious for the entire industry. We have limited recourse other than beating the bushes out there to try and find better deals. Ride it out, that's all you can really do.--Todd Heavin, Intermet Corp."

On Charge Make Up ...

"One of the keys is finding good, solid metallurgical expertise to support your operation. And you have to educate your people in the purchasing and metallurgical departments on the importance of the melt commodities.--Dan Torzewski, Indianapolis Casting Corp."

"You have to be creative more so than you have ever been. Look at things that you may not have looked at before in your charge. The creativity is important because you have to buy raw material to run your operation.--Daniel Pflaum, Gamma-Tech LLC."

On Surcharges ...

If your customer says, 'I'm not going to accept any price increase,' say to them, 'Who do I ship your patterns to?' One of the dirty little secretes is that we (steel facilities) are operating at near capacity. There is some panic about the availability of steel castings. Don't get me wrong, it is not wonderful, but business has picked up sharply.--Raymond Monroe Steel Founders' Society of America"

"Steel scrap is disappearing at an increasing rate and causing a shortage in North America, and in turn is increasing the cost of steel. Where does it end? Getting price increases on any product is difficult and manufacturers can't pass on their increased costs. Companies that buy steel are faced with ever-increasing prices.--Charles Hageman, Forging Industry Assoc."

On Export Tariffs ...

"The export control proposals being considered today are not a result of a lack of supply. Rather, they appear to be a smoke-screen attempt to control the price of ferrous scrap and a direct assault on free trade.--Charles Williams, Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries"

On Supplier Relationships ...

If you would have developed a relationship with your supplier, if at all possible, I believe that supplier would stay with you. Over the long haul, if they stuck with me, when material gets tight, I would make sure those ten guys that consistently bought from me get preference over the forty that didn't. If you shop around, you roll the dice and you get what you get.--A Ferrous Raw Material Supplier"