BIR World Mirror Non-Ferrous 94, 2010/10

"Great" news as American recession ends

A colleague of mine who’s been in the scrap industry for over 35 years quipped the other day that the recession, dubbed the Great Recession, was indeed “great” - well, at least for our business. As veterans of many a severe economic turndown, both of us laughed. We were used to terrible business conditions for an extended period; politicians and economists grasping at anything to come up with solutions (at least some things never change); and an overall malaise in the non-ferrous scrap industry that permeated every aspect of our trade.

Little did we know that the so-called Great Recession, which presumably started in the spring of 2008, had really ended in June 2009, at least according to recent reports. Nobody had told us; there was nothing on our news reporting services telling us the glad tidings over a year ago. Had we timed our weekly departmental luncheons and Monday morning meetings poorly and failed to be informed when this tremendous accomplishment took place? And where were you when the end came for the worst economic downturn, the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression? (Not being alive when the Great Depression took place, I have to defer to others’ recollections to really know how great it really was, although it actually seems to have been not particularly great for anyone I ever knew.)

...

Robert Stein
Alter Trading (USA)
President of the Non-Ferrous Metals Division
26th September 2010

Download the full market report from our members only pages.