PWB Value Hits Lowest Point In 17 Months

The gross value of printed wiring board scrap in October 2008 was $3.57 per pound, the lowest price in 17 months, and down 10.3 percent from the September figure. The PWB value also was down 10.5 percent from October 2007's numbers. Year-to-date, the average value of board scrap is $4.08 per pound, an 11.3-percent decline over the same period in 2007.

This data represents the full metallic values of boards over time and are not the recycling values, as those values do not include the costs involved in actually extracting metal from boards, including freight, sampling charges, assay assessments, smelting, refining, process loss, return on investment, and penalties for various elements, including beryllium, bismuth and nickel.

These values are for the estimated intrinsic metal content of recovered PC boards. Some consumers label such material as mid-value. Lower-value scrap includes monitor and television boards. Higher-value scrap includes network and video cards, and motherboards.

The October value is the lowest price of the year, while the March 2008 printed-wiring board value, at $5.03 per pound, was the highest in almost seven years.

Source: E-Scrap News, Nov. 13th, 2008