Posted on 16 Jan 2009
Scrap dealers, like many other business people, are going through lean times.
Demand for scrap metal has suffered a big drop in recent months. And because they have had to reduce the price they pay for scrap, fewer sellers are coming in to them.
Several dealers complained yesterday that since the worldwide drop in base metal prices, business had slowed down drastically.
The price of metals has declined by an average of 55 per cent in the past couple months. This has caused the price of items, such as copper, to take a hefty hit: a pound of copper on the black market has dropped from $17 a pound to $4.
Iron and steel have suffered similar declines, it was pointed out.
And if the price of base metals do not recover in the coming months, many dealers might have to shut down operations, it was feared. They said the price of copper had dropped by almost 70 per cent.
"If copper prices do not recover soon, it would not be profitable for me to operate this business. The customers have not been coming in as they used to and those who do come do not want the price we are offering," one dealer said yesterday.
Another dealer from
"Now I am paying between $2 and $4 a pound. I have noticed that since the price went down fewer people have been coming in with copper. I do not ask where they get the copper and I know that many of them may have stolen it for fast money, but I am doing my job," he said.
Similar tales of sales declines were told by several other dealers.
Most of the scrap metals are sold to
The Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) was hard hit in recent years by thieves who stole its cable to get at the copper. In recent months though, it has recorded a decline in cable thefts.
But TSTT's corporate communications manager, Camille Salandy, said an improvement in the company's security systems was the reason for the reduction. She said the company had beefed up its alarm systems and there were frequent patrols at nights.
"We do not believe the thefts have reduced because of the drop in prices. The drop in the price of copper began in October 2008 and we have been monitoring the trend. We believe that it is the improvement in the company's security and partnering with the media to sensitise the public on what is happening," she said.
