Best regards and have a good business!
Mehmet AKİDİL

Aluminum scrap, in one form or the other, is recovered by almost every segment of the domestic aluminum industry. Integrated primary aluminum companies, independent secondary smelters, fabricators, foundries, and chemical producers can recover aluminum from scrap. Integrated primary aluminum companies and independent secondary smelters, however, are the major consumers of scrap.

The independent secondary aluminum smelters consume scrap and produce alloys for the diecasting industry. A cursory look at the distribution of these smelters in the United States reveals a heavy concentration of smelters in the automotive and appliance manufacturing areas of the country.

The other major consumers of aluminum scrap are the integrated aluminum companies. The integrated companies frequently purchase scrap from their industrial customers directly or on a contract-conversion basis. Major integrated aluminum companies also operate can recycling programs and have set up thousands of collection centers around the country for used aluminum beverage cans.

Used beverage can (UBC) scrap is the major component of processed old aluminum scrap, accounting for approximately one- half of the old scrap consumed in the United States. Most UBC scrap is recovered as aluminum sheet and is manufactured again as aluminum beverage cans. Most of the other types of old scrap are recovered in the form of alloys used by the diecasting industry; the bulk of these diecasts are used by the automotive industry.

Aluminum scrap has become an important component of the supply and demand relationship in the United States. The aluminum recycling industry has grown dramatically over the last

30 years, increasing from a total metal recovery of 900,000 metric tons in 1970 to almost 3.7 million tons in 1997, according to data derived by the USGS from its “Aluminum Scrap” survey.

According to figures released by the Aluminum Association Inc., the Can Manufacturers Institute, and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, 66.8 billion aluminum UBC’s were recycled in the United States during 1997. The recycling rate, based on the number of cans shipped during the year, was 66.5%, an increase from the 63.5% recycling rate reported in 1996. According to the organizations joint press release, aluminum beverage cans produced domestically in 1997 had an average 54.7% postconsumer recycled content, the highest recycled content percentage of all packaging materials (Aluminum Association Inc., 1998).

Purchase prices for aluminum scrap, as quoted by American Metal Market (AMM), followed the general trend of primary ingot prices. Scrap prices closed the year at slightly higher levels than those at the beginning of the year. The yearend price ranges for selected types of aluminum scrap were as follows: mixed low- copper-content aluminum clips, 56 to 57 cents per pound; old sheet and cast, 49 to 50 cents per pound; and clean, dry aluminum turnings, 50 to 51 cents per pound.
Aluminum producers’ buying price range for processed and delivered UBC’s, as quoted by AMM, fluctuated during the year. The price range began the year at 53 to 54 cents per pound, reached a high of 59 to 61 cents per pound in April and in August, and closed the year at 55 to 56 cents per pound. Resource Recycling published a monthly transaction price for aluminum UBC’s in its Container Recycling Report. The average annual UBC transaction price for 1997 was 60.3 cents per pound, an increase from the 1996 annual average of 54.7 cents per pound. The yearend indicator prices, as published in AMM, for selected secondary aluminum ingots also increased compared with those of 1996 and were as follows: alloy 380 (1% zinc content),

81.31 cents per pound; alloy 360 (0.6% copper content), 86.53 cents per pound; alloy 413 (0.6% copper content), 86.35 cents per pound; and alloy 319 (3.5% copper content), 84.71 cents per pound. Platt’s Metals Week published an annual average U.S. price of 75.5 cents per pound for A-380 alloy (3% zinc content). The average annual London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price for a similar 380 alloy was 66 cents per pound.