THERE’S a rush on for scrap metals and the heaps that have long dulled roadsides and scrap yards here are fast disappearing as packed containers head to feed hungry mills in China and India.

It’s cheaper to melt than smelt — that’s what they say — and buying and selling scrap metal/iron is believed to be a behind-the-scenes, big bucks, quick bucks business venture.
Dealers here say they are scrambling to fill 20 and 40-foot containers with scrap iron/metal to be shipped to India and China where they are recycled into steel to supply the virtually insatiable demand for the massive building boom in those countries.

It is understood that there is a ferocious and competitive bidding process among the dealers who are paying between G$10,000 and G$15,000 a tonne for scrap metal.

And in the wake of the disastrous January floods and the need to get rid of garbage that had blocked drains, people are paying others to remove all the derelict vehicles and iron and metal debris they had long ignored in their yards and on roadsides

The Chronicle last week caught up with the virtual CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) of the scrap metal business in Guyana - Englishmen Kenneth Short and his son, Martin who own and operate South Carib Metals - to find out what is the lure driving the business.
In their scrap yard at a Georgetown wharf Thursday afternoon, amid the large stockpile of rusting metal of all sizes and shapes, were the fuselages of two DC3 aircraft formerly owned by the now defunct Guyana Airways Corporation.

Kenneth said the fuselage will be cut into several pieces, packed into a container(s) and shipped to England.

He was at the time giving directions to workers who were busily packing another container, while a constant stream of trucks and horse-drawn carts loaded with scrap metal was flowing into the scrap yard.

The workload was so heavy at that peak hour that he asked the Chronicle to reschedule the interview.

At his Ogle, East Coast Demerara home yesterday afternoon, his son Martin recalled that his dad decided to settle in Guyana in 1982, a number of years after he first arrived here in the late 1960s trying to sell agricultural equipment and machinery.

Martin said his father used to bring in the agricultural equipment and machinery and he eventually began exporting the scrap metal.

However, it soon became a mostly one-way street with exports of scrap metal far greater than the import of agricultural machinery and equipment.

In its 20 years of existence, Martin said South Carib Metals Inc has exported between 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes of scrap metal from Guyana in about 30 containers monthly.
He feels the company should get an award for helping to ‘clean up Guyana’, referring to the removal of scrap metal/iron that probably would have still been littering the country had it not been for the establishment of South Carib Metals.

“We’re trying to clean up Guyana. It’s a shi..y job but somebody’s got to do it,” he posited.

Martin apparently, or conveniently, forgot to mention the word ‘lucrative’.

He said his company bought about 300 tonnes of scrap metal for last week alone. These come from as far as Corentyne in Berbice and Supenaam in Essequibo, he said.

He, however, said that the cost of trucking the scrap metal/iron to the city from these far-flung areas has become virtually prohibitive.

Noting that the buying and selling of scrap metal is hard work, Martin said one of the biggest challenges now is finding containers to stockpile the stuff for export.

Another is the dwindling availability of scrap metal in Guyana. He noted that although scrap metal is in abundance in Guyana, it is fast becoming a scarce ‘item’.
He believes that with the rate of accumulation and export of scrap metal out of this country, this scarcity should begin as early as next year.

“Actually, it is one of the major exports out of Guyana and follows closely on the heels of sugar,” Martin asserted with a wry smile.

And alluding to the wobbling prices for scrap metal in the world market, he explained that the market is dependent on the world’s stock market, where prices vary day to day.

He also indicated that one of the major shipping lines transporting scrap metal around the world has recently upped its freight rate by almost 100%, citing damage to its ships while transporting the heavy containers, among other issues.

The Englishman also dismissed threats from competition, noting that honesty and fair play have been the hallmark of the operations conducted by South Carib Metals over the years.

Referring to the abandoned ships and vessels in several of Guyana’s many rivers, Martin said he and his father have already inspected these with a view to cutting them up and bringing them to the city and then shipping them out.
He, however, indicated that logistically, it is really not feasible to do so without governmental assistance.

Another large dealer who operates in Georgetown complained that although the scrap business is attractive and lucrative, he might leave the business due to security reasons.

He said he is regularly targeted by bandits.

The dealer indicated that his ‘scrap outlet’, which has been in operation for almost two years, is shipping on average six to seven 20-foot containers of scrap metal/iron per week to markets in Asia, especially India and China.