In the past year, the price of steel in the US has risen due to the tariffs that have been placed on products being imported in to the US. In most cases, steel drum manufacturers and reconditioners have passed on the increase to the end user. There is always the belief that when steel prices increase, reconditioned drums deserve consideration. However, in this unique steel crisis, the available recycled raw materials that are used to recondition or remanufacture drums are drying up as crushed scrap drums are being illegally sent to scrap yards and eventually end up at steel mills. RIPA has created a 1 minute video explaining this unlawful act that could affect companies. Given the reduction of steel drums available for reconditioning, the reconditioned drum prices reflect the shortage of raw drums and therefore, the prices between new and reconditioned are not far apart.
Furthermore, some manufacturers are using the price of steel in the US to drive down the necessary wall thickness of steel drums. Drum user’s often do not realize that reducing wall thickness increases the risk on drum performance — and a small cost savings on the drum exposes the much more expensive inner contents to greater transport risk.
On the other hand, users contemplating reconditioned versus new drums will find that a reconditioned drum is going to be thicker and heavier than many of the thin-walled new drums that are not intended to withstand reconditioning and are being scrapped after a single use. When choosing the best drum for your product, we recommend that thicker steel is the best choice for risk-reduced transport and storage. Never use a drum that is less than 0.9mm minimum or 20 gauge wall thickness.