Metal Monday July 12, 2021 with Nick Snyder and Brett Ekart.
Play the youtube video and follow along with the text below.
Nick Snyder:
All right. Welcome everybody. I'm here with Brett via zoom again. How are you doing today?
Brett Ekart:
I'm good, bud. Yourself?
Nick Snyder:
I'm doing well, man. Doing pretty good for a Monday. And we finally got our iron pricing in for everyone.
Brett Ekart:
Yeah.
Nick Snyder:
You want to let everyone know what happened?
Brett Ekart:
Yeah. It's up $10 to $20-something bucks depending on grade, depending on what you're shipping. I'm feeling like, that's positive. Maybe not as positive as we maybe anticipated earlier in the middle of June but I still think it's probably setting up good for August.
Nick Snyder:
Yeah.
Brett Ekart:
I hear some people maybe kind of saying that, you know, August could take some wind out of their market, but I don't know. It's still supply, demand. It probably really depends on what people can get cut and shipped this month.
Nick Snyder:
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it feels like the supply is still out there. Feels like everyone can't get the material they want right now.
Brett Ekart:
Exactly.
Nick Snyder:
With that being said, man, you would think the price would still keep going up, you know? And I know...
Brett Ekart:
Yeah, I mean, they're not lowering the steel mill prices. So that's definitely a good thing for us. So I'm not complaining on that front. So, I mean, I just wish that today the steel mills would give us a little bit more love as our piece of the supply chain. But it is what it is that pendulum always swings, you know, hard one way and hard the other.
Nick Snyder:
Yeah, yeah.
Brett Ekart:
Just got to do what we do.
Nick Snyder:
And our non-ferrous markets, we're seeing, I mean, copper's still floating around that $4.20 to $4.30, depending on what day you look at it.
Brett Ekart:
Yep.
Nick Snyder:
Aluminum's still a little...
Brett Ekart:
Yeah. Copper's off a little bit today.
Nick Snyder:
Yeah.
Brett Ekart:
Aluminum was soft. It's soft, but I don't know. I mean, the precious metals were looking strong today. Platinum, palladium, rhodium all seeing good gains.
Nick Snyder:
Yeah.
Brett Ekart:
You know, to be honest, that fluctuation, that market probably does serve us better on a daily swing then the price of copper or aluminum, you know?
Nick Snyder:
Yeah. When thousand dollars swings on rhodium, I mean that can cut both ways though. That thing can change a lot.
Brett Ekart:
Oh yeah. I mean, I've been on the wrong side of it there for the last month or two. But what's our motto? If we feel strong about the markets, we buy, man. We haven't stopped and much to the chagrin sometimes of the accountants or whatever, but we stay after it and we buy aggressive when we feel like there's opportunity and you know, we stay buying.
Nick Snyder:
For multiple reasons. That's what we do for a living. So on a soft market...
Brett Ekart:
Exactly.
Nick Snyder:
... you got to get comfortable with it.
Brett Ekart:
You hedge where you can, where it makes sense, and where it doesn't, we don't.
Nick Snyder:
And we try to take care of...
Brett Ekart:
We got to...
Nick Snyder:
... our [crosstalk 00:02:57] too. We can hold the price...
Brett Ekart:
Exactly.
Nick Snyder:
... and we take a little bit of gamble on it. You know?
Brett Ekart:
Hundred percent.
Nick Snyder:
Well cool.
Brett Ekart:
Hundred percent.
Nick Snyder:
Well, next week we'll be in person again, I think.
Brett Ekart:
I hope, yeah. That's the goal. I'm actually over here at Sea World with my family in San Antonio. And I'm about to watch the whales.
Nick Snyder:
So, what amusement parks do you guys do? Let everyone know.
Brett Ekart:
What's that?
Nick Snyder:
Is it just Sea World or did you do another one, too?
Brett Ekart:
Sea World. Yeah, we did Six Flags the other day.
Nick Snyder:
So you did Six Flags.
Brett Ekart:
But today, I was messing with...
Nick Snyder:
Which one [crosstalk 00:03:34]?
Brett Ekart:
Sea World, the kids are really enjoying it, but I think the kids are pretty gassed. But the big day for my wife and I. This Is our 13th anniversary.
Nick Snyder:
Oh yeah. Congratulations.
Brett Ekart:
Yeah. You know, it's part of the deal. She's the one that allows me to do what I do for a living, which is work crazy hours and do these phone calls in the middle of our family vacation to talk about scrap. She's like, do what you got to do. I'm like, I know. Is what it is. I got a lot of love, a lot of appreciation for her.
Nick Snyder:
Well, good. Well, congratulations to both of you. And we'll see you here in person next week. Okay?
Brett Ekart:
All right, buddy. Appreciate it. Take care. Hold down the Fort. I'll be back tomorrow.