In addition to the educational sessions and networking opportunities at ISRI’s Commodity Roundtables Forum in Chicago, the event will also feature tabletop exhibits from sponsors. Scrap News spoke with the gold-level sponsors to learn more about what these companies can offer recyclers and what they’re looking forward to about this year’s Commodity Roundtables Forum. 

C&Y Global

Could you tell me about C&Y Global and the types of nonferrous metals it specializes in?

CY Global, Inc. was established in 2004 in Houston, Texas. We specialize in buying, processing, and selling a wide variety of recycled metal including copper, brass, lead, zinc, electric motors, shredder pickings, Zorba, sealed units, insulated copper wire, brass radiators, transformers, alternator, stators, armatures, aluminum, and a host of different scrap metal.

Over the past 17 years, C&Y has grown into one of the largest metal recyclers in the U.S. We ship more than 170,000 tons of nonferrous metals annually. To date, we have eight associated yards in the U.S. in Houston, Chicago, Cleveland, Atlanta, Dallas, Kansas City, Oakland, and Oklahoma. We have two processing facilities in Thailand with an annual processing capacity of 100,000 tons of a variety of recycled metal.

What should potential customers and suppliers know about C&Y Global that make it a stand-out company?

With many years of experience in the scrap metal industry, C&Y Global has built long-term relationships with suppliers and customers through open and transparent communication. We believe in serving our customers and providing a seamless experience. Our reputation, credibility, and devotion to customer satisfaction is what really sets us apart.

What is C&Y Global excited about for the Commodity Roundtables?

We’re excited to meet in-person with customers from different locations. We also look forward to developing opportunities with potential customers.

Argus Media

Can you tell me about Argus Media?

Argus Media is a price reporting agency. Our primary objective is to track pricing across a range of commodities. Argus covers everything from oil to fertilizers, and of course metals. Within metals, we report on pricing, news, analysis, and commentary across the full range of materials. We cover steel and its raw materials, base metals like aluminum and copper, specialty metals like silicon and manganese, and battery materials like lithium, nickel, cobalt, and so forth.

We specialize in scrap, covering ferrous and nonferrous on a global basis. It’s become our number one area of coverage.

What makes Argus Media a stand-out company?

Being around for 51 years, we have deep experience in commodity price reporting. Because the company’s background is in oil, which is a more regulated market, we’ve built up systems and standards that mark us out in terms of the fidelity and scrutiny we put behind our prices. The news coverage that goes with it is unsurpassed in the industry. We combine that with a real focus on the markets. We have about 55 people covering metals globally and about 10 who focus solely on scrap in the U.S. I think we’re well-resourced. We’re not trying to cover 18 different ferrous markets with one person. We have a strong team and hundreds of years of experience between us.

Can you tell me about Argus’ involvement in ISRI?

ISRI members are our core audience and our core target audience. We sponsor and speak at a lot of ISRI events. It’s a partnership we really value. At the Commodity Roundtables, we’re looking forward to partnering with ISRI, getting the name out, and providing some value and exposure to our scrap members. In addition, Blake Hurtik, editor of the Argus Metal Prices publication, will speak at the ferrous roundtable with Adam Dumes as the moderator.

In the past, the roundtables have typically been the first week of September, which limits the amount of ferrous folks who can attend. They’re trying to purchase or sell what they need for the month, which is hard to do from a Chicago hotel room, especially when they want to network and listen to speakers. We’re glad the event is in late September so more ferrous folks can come.

What are you looking forward to at the Commodity Roundtables Forum?

We’re really looking forward to being in-person. A big part of the scrap world is networking and relationships. It’s hard to maintain them properly online. We’ve already been attending ISRI events and other industry events in person, following proper safety protocols and local regulations and guidelines. Attendance has been really strong at those events, which seems to signal an appetite to get back out there and meet people. There’s also the social aspect, which you miss on Zoom calls.

Argus was recently selected by the London Metal Exchange (LME) as the underlying index for two new scrap contracts. One is for ferrous scrap in Taiwan and the other is for used beverage can (UBC), a US-based contract. We’re excited to talk to people at the Commodity Roundtables about these new contracts.

Jennifer Betts, vice president of business development in metals, will be at the Roundtables in Chicago. She was a scrap trader before joining us. She serves as our liaison for the industry, helping industry members take the information and prices Argus puts out and translates them into their business to add value. We hope everyone stops by the Argus table and says hello to her.

Photos courtesy of ISRI. Featured photo caption: C&Y Global’s tabletop exhibit during the 2021 Commodity Roundtables. Body photo caption: Argus Media’s exhibit during the 2021 Commodity Roundtables.

 

 

Hannah Zuckerman

Hannah Zuckerman

Hannah is a Writer & Editor for ISRI's Scrap News. She's interested in a wide range of topics in the recycling industry and is always eager to learn more. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College, where she majored in History and a minored in Creative Writing. She lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband.