The Agricultural Equipment Salvage Yard Business is Lucrative

World events affect all prices, including junk.  This is about the avocado green refrigerator in your garage that has stopped working 10 years ago, or the old hay rake that your grandfather hauled out to your backyard.  All these stuff is now worth a small fortune.

The same thing can happen to agricultural equipment.  Salvage yard metal can be worth so much more today because of the changes in world economy.

Rising Price of Metal

The increase in the prices of scrap metal may be due to the weak dollar, plus the fact that China has been growing at a rate of 12-14% per year.  So today, it was reported that farmers are already cleaning their junk piles (and looking for old farm machinery) in order to convert them into hard, cold cash.

Unfortunately, there is a dark side to putting up an agricultural equipment salvage yard business.  Thieves can start to sneak into your yard at night and steal from you.  In fact, they might even sell the same steel scrap to you the following day!

Farm Machinery Cycle

It is said that the life cycle of farm machinery is only about 40 years.  When it ages a little bit, it is usually sold to a producer or handed down to a family member.

And then, it will eventually wind up in a junk pile or fencerow.  For example, most scrap metals that you will purchase at the agricultural equipment salvage yard in Southern Illinois winds up at a Southern Missouri foundry or at a processor in Granite City Illinois or Tell City Indiana.

Evolving Market

The scrap metal market has been evolving every month.  There are months when buyers want more farm machinery, oilfield junk, or heavy iron.  While on other months, they might be more inclined to purchase appliances and automobiles.

The only market that is always hot turns out to be aluminum junk.  Normal price of soda and beer cans are about 65 cents for every pound.  And while there are many scrap metals being shipped overseas, majority of recycled metals in the Midwest are still staying in the United States.

Agricultural equipment salvage yard owners believe that the next frontier in the junk market will be plastic bottles.  When you visit landfills, you will notice that plastic bottles are already being deposited in large numbers, especially in Maine and Michigan.

There will come a point when the value of plastic bottles will go up, especially if other industries will be involved (most especially the government).

Posted in Agricultural Equipment Salvage Yard  on March 2, 2009 - 9:35 am by admin  |