Scrap for the US, gold for India

Hindustan Times ^ | Amit Sharma

[steppenw0lf]

The 9/11 attacks may have occasioned anxiety around the planet, but for this small town on the Delhi-Amritsar highway in the Fatehgarh Sahib district, it has meant a boom for the scrap and metal remoulding business. Overcoming health concerns and superstitions, the dealers here have made it a habit to track international terrorist strikes, simply to pick up the scrap from such incidents.

In 2002, about 70,000 tonnes of scrap found its way to India, amid fear of toxicity, and of that, 10,000 tonnes reached this town. Parveen Kumar, a former manager at Patiala Castings, which imported the scrap, says that the WTC scrap metal was purchased at US $90 to $110 per metric tonne. “Though Mandi Gobindgarh received scrap from around the world for several years, our handling of the WTC scrap made sure our skills in converting waste metal became known globally,” Kumar says.

There were initial hurdles. Local remoulders were reluctant to buy the scrap as they considered it “unlucky” due to the tragic loss of nearly 3,000 lives in the 9/11 attacks. “Even my family told me not to buy scrap which took numerous lives but we meant business and did it, maybe waiting a year to do so,” says Chander Mittal of Punjab Steel.

Once Mittal processed the metal, its quality emboldened him to travel frequently to “trouble-ridden” nations in search of similar scrap. His company has now opened office in several countries, though he is reluctant to name them.

[bannie]

I thought China was getting it all.

[metmom]

Glad to hear they're not.