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Article: METAL MELTDOWN; Slumping scrap prices spread pain through a long chain of suppliers.
- Article from:
- Crain's Chicago Business
- Article date:
- May 4, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: JOHN PLETZ
The downturn in housing and auto production popped a price bubble that just a year ago brought record profits to the scrap metal business.
Metal manufacturing was slow to feel the impact of the recession, as overseas demand kept the industry afloat months after the domestic economy was already reeling. But scrap prices are falling now, squeezing an industry that supplies about half the metal used in everything from cars to soda cans.
Red ink and job losses are rippling through a food chain extending from Northwest Indiana's largest steel mills to solo operators who troll Chicago alleys in pickup trucks looking for discarded ...