### A Scrap Life Podcast

**Brett Echart**: As you guys know, I don’t have a sponsor on this podcast, but today the game has changed. I have recently invested in new technology that I believe can change the game for small and medium-sized scrap companies like us. Its name is Nikki, and it’s the last receptionist your scrapyard will ever need.

**Brett Echart**: I just got tired of our company missing opportunities that were coming across the phone lines at all of our yards. Calls that we were paying for through advertising. The problem was we were asking our scale operators to just do too much, but we couldn’t really justify the payroll to have one person just sitting there answering phone calls. Now Nikki answers the calls, directs the important ones to our buyers, and answers the basic questions right now. More importantly, Nikki doesn’t let big opportunities slip through the cracks while our team is taking care of the scale traffic and our customers. And probably the most important feature is the daily data call log for follow-ups, tracking, and details of every single call. More details coming soon. Stay tuned.

### Introduction to the Podcast

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. Here is your host, Brett Echart.

**Brett Echart**: All right. It’s hard to believe that it’s already June. It’s wild. I mean, after this month, we’ll be halfway through 2026. So far, 2026 hasn’t really proved to be super volatile. It’s been a pretty kind of flatish year on the Ferris side. And once again, I got Chad the man brought to break this thing down for us and talk about the Ferris trade for June. What’s going on, man? How we doing?

**Chad**: Hey, Brett. 2026, man. I feel like if you can’t make money with these types of aluminum and copper prices in the scrap business, it’s going to be tough. For all you guys out there that think you’re just smarter than everybody else and you’ve got it figured out like everybody else has it figured out too. It’s just called you know $2 aluminum, $650 copper, or whatever it was yesterday.

**Chad**: And from what I read, it looks like on the commodity side, it’s really holding pretty strong. If we could get $650 iron like we did, we would be really cooking with grease around here. Today, we’re going to talk about the Ferris trade for June. It’s more of a standoff, right? Mills are really busy on the demand side. Then on the other side, you got export down overall. It’s a sideways type month.

**Brett Echart**: Yeah. I was talking to someone yesterday and there’s this whole thing about the export market being off. The price, the freight’s gone down too, so it’s really like a flat market.

**Chad**: Let’s dive into that. Fast Markets does a monthly survey, and 67% of the market said, “Hey, I think we’re expecting a sideways market.” It’s a battle of perspectives, but everyone is making money at these levels.

**Brett Echart**: The mills are eating, and scrap guys are eating. Mills are busy, everyone is busy, with lead times stretching out. The Ferris market is a flat sideways battle. On the macro level, mills running at 80% plus, the bigger entities running as fast as they can. It’s hard to ignore all this development and infrastructure happening; the demand is there.

**Chad**: It’s interesting how infrastructure like data centers are huge drivers at the moment. Aluminum is being used extensively in these data centers.

**Brett Echart**: Absolutely, and projects are going up everywhere. These infrastructure projects are driving the growth at least in our area over here in Idaho. It’s fascinating how the scrap business quickly picks up on these trends.

**Chad**: Imagine the price of ferris scrap if the export market was hot. We’d be at levels like 2008.

**Brett Echart**: That’s where we are, looking at how export issues and pig iron prices would alter this year’s scenario. The infrastructure projects are getting piled up, and there’s going to be an export scrap demand at some point, sooner or later.

**Chad**: There is bullishness on what’s happening with pig iron as well as geopolitical issues affecting trading. The market could break either way. The macro-level issues could have positive outcomes for the scrap market if resolved correctly.

**Brett Echart**: Let’s not ignore the cash flow aspect of running a scrapyard right now. The cost of business is expensive, and so is the outlay for buying scrap, especially on the non-ferris side. And some struggle with margins due to all these expenses.

**Chad**: Many need cash flow and space to hold on to scrap. It’s a demanding market, and only those who can manage these aspects will fare well. The cost of electricity, equipment, and the rising prices aren’t helping either.

**Brett Echart**: Electric arc furnace usage of recycled steel is up 4.5%, showing a favorable trend for our industry, despite the rising costs.

**Chad**: As we head into June, we’ll know who blinks first in trade—the mills or the dealers. It’s a waiting game, and it will tell us a lot about market directions.

**Brett Echart**: I love the new charts, Chad. Thanks for putting them up. For those who just listen to the podcast, Chad will post them so everyone can see. Thanks for following along and listening. Hope everybody has a great day.