# A Scrap Life Podcast: Discussion on the Scrap Metal Industry

### Host: Brett Eart

**Brett Eart**: Welcome to “A Scrap Life,” a podcast solely focused on the hustlers, grinders, operators, and business owners who live and breathe the scrap metal industry every day. What’s going on, everybody? The trade is back. January 2026. I can’t believe it’s January already. I hope that everybody had a great Christmas, a great New Year’s, and hope everybody managed to end 2025 on a good note. And whether you did or not, it doesn’t matter because ’26 is here. So, let’s get this party started and let’s talk about the Ferris trade.

**Chad**: Chad, what is up, my man? Christmas treat you well? New Year’s treat you well?

**Chad**: Gosh, I feel like after seeing silver, I mean, we had, let’s just talk about 2025. Gold goes crazy, then we’ve seen silver go crazy recently.

**Brett Eart**: Yeah.

**Chad**: I know a guy that’s got some rhodium position, you know, got a little bit. It’s been good so far. It’s still early.

**Brett Eart**: Uh, you know, let’s hope Ferris can have a similar chart here in 2026.

**Chad**: Well, I mean, I think this is a supply-driven market, not by no means is a demand-driven market. And I think that winter storm right during the December trade across the Midwest certainly slowed things down. Then you had the holiday. So, just kind of a wash when it comes to supply in December. I think it really affected things. So, sure, do things feel frothy here again for January. A lot of optimism out there.

**Brett Eart**: Yeah, well, if I mean, I’m not going to speak for you, but it does feel like we’re at least getting started on a good note for the year. I think December was up a little bit. We got a little bit of money in December, and January, I, as predicted, the steel mills like to drown the inventory a little bit and then come January, guys have some scrap. You want to make new steel? So they tell me. What do you think, man?

**Chad**: The Midwest, the weather has been… You guys kind of got a couple of storms over here in the Northwest. I finally took my son snowboarding on like December 29th or something like that, but I couldn’t take him to the hill that we have season passes on, which is in our backyard, cuz they have no snow, which is crazy. Usually, they open it up by Thanksgiving.

**Brett Eart**: Oh, wow. But for them to not even be open, like the main lift to the top is still not open. It’s been rare. So, we haven’t had a ton of weather here. So, our flows, back to the original question, our flows are okay still. Now the manufacturing side is still slow. December always is a slower month on that side because people kind of mail it in the last two weeks. But the flows have been okay. Not as bad as they could have been all things considered because the weather’s been good.

**Chad**: So, if for all those kind of new in the business out there, when a scrap guy says his flow’s okay, that means it’s been great. Oh, no. No. That’s a lie. I’m the only honest scrap guy. Trust. Well, 11 scrap commandments… Trust the checks are in the mail.

**Brett Eart**: This is my first time ever having a load rejected or whatever. But seriously, they are just okay.

**Chad**: Let’s talk about the macro to the micro here and get down to the Ferris markets. First, we got to start with the Dow Jones Industrial Average all-time highs. When you look back at 2025, we had a lot of things going on. What is your prediction for 2026?

**Brett Eart**: I think that we push past this. I’m not saying we won’t have some market dips, but I think the trend is still our friend in that regard. There’s some cautious optimism about 2026.

**Chad**: Well, we certainly saw that with a lot of different hard assets or commodities, meaning gold and silver. I’m very bullish. But if you look at Dow Jones at an all-time high…

**Brett Eart**: For commodities like aluminum and copper, people are moving that material through the system as fast as they can because nobody wants to get caught holding overpriced material.

**Chad**: Exactly, and back to the historicals, we’re seeing crude oil go down here, obviously with the Venezuela situation. We’re right around 56 bucks a barrel towards the end of January 1.

**Brett Eart**: Oil feels very macro-driven. The market is more volatile, impacted by various factors, than Ferris scrap. It’s an interesting time for oil and how it affects markets.

**Chad**: So, let’s talk about steel prices. We were around 900 bucks at the beginning of December. Now, around 940. The real number is probably 950, right, on new hot roll sales.

**Brett Eart**: That’s fairly bullish. But we’re at the same level we were last year. We need more demand for prices to go higher, especially in international markets. Let’s watch the Chinese markets for a real impact.

**Chad**: If I’m running a company, I’m not betting the farm on China coming roaring back in 2026.

**Brett Eart**: You may not bet the farm, but would you put 10 bucks on it? For the Ferris guys, I see this as an important chart. The market will be solid for the next 60 days, meaning January-February, without much downside pressure.

**Chad**: Look at copper at six bucks! This is crazy. From hero to zero in days. But if you can’t make money at 580 copper in the scrap business, find some margin.

**Brett Eart**: Commodities talk has been strong. Whether that’s oil, copper, or silver, maybe 2026 is the year of the commodity. Commodity prices, in general, just need to play some catch-up.

**Chad**: 2026, the year of the commodity. I love it.

**Brett Eart**: Thanks for your time, man. Everyone, have a great month.