Only just scraping by
As junk fetch lower prices, they struggle to stay in business
Teo Xuanwei, Today Online 1 Nov 08;
AS A karung guni man, he used to easily rake in around $4,000 every month.
But for the past two months, Mr Khoo Hong Piew’s income has been slashed by half as the global financial crisis has sent the prices of scrap materials tumbling.
Since July, fears over slowing growth have gradually crimped demand for raw materials in surging economies such as China and India. And the effect has spilled over and caused both demand and prices of scrap materials to slide.
Where recycling companies used to pay 30 cents and $9 respectively for every kilogramme of old newspapers and copper, Mr Khoo told Weekend Today that they fetch only 15 cents and $2 now.
“Despite working longer hours every day, I’m having trouble making half of what I used to,” the 52-year-old said.
“We are squeezed in between the recycling companies and the households we collect the junk from,” he added. “People don’t believe that prices can drop so much within such a short period of time; they think we’re trying to cheat them.”
And if the falling prices continue unabated, many rag-and-bone men may be out of jobs soon, said Mr Khoo.
He added that many households are also putting off selling their junk because of the low prices.
Metal prices around the world have been heading south for the last three months. On Friday, Reuters reported that copper prices had dived 35 per cent this month and was heading for its biggest monthly drop since at least 1977, despite a10-per-cent rise earlier this week.
Another karung guni man,Mr Chee Ah Peng, 56, said he had been scolded by old folks who collect drink cans. “The price has dropped from $2 to 60 cents for every kg. I don’t blame them for not believing me, but I’ve already tried to absorb some of the losses myself and there’s nothing more I can do,” he said.
Scrap metal dealers Boon Seng Metal & Disposal Services’ manager Bernard Chua said that manyrecycling companies may also have to fold if the situation doesn’timprove soon. “Many karung guni men are not bringing in scrapmetals anymore. Our profits have fallen almost 65 per cent and there’s hardly enough to pay our employees’ salaries now,” he said.
However, one positive effect of the sliding prices is the sharp fall in public property thefts. There was rampant pilfering of metal signs, prayer urns and copper wirings when metal prices started climbing in 2005 and 2006.
For the first six months of the year, police figures showed there were 366 cases of metal theft — a 40-per-cent drop compared to the same period last year.
