Steel prices up, so is urge to steal!

What is common between Ahmedabad and Edinburgh — the metal thieves.

Last month an Ahmedabad newspaper carried details of how thieves are stealing iron fencing installed on road dividers. And, again the manhole covers made of iron.

While reading those news items, you thought this can happen only in India, then you are mistaken. The same things are happening in Britain and several other nations also.

The reason: soaring prices of steel and other metals. As the prices of steel and metals go up, the value of scrap metal also rises and so does the urge to steal.

Theft of various kinds of metal is on the rise across the world because of rapidly increasing scrap metal prices.

In London, the price of copper has risen in recent months from $3 per pound to $6 per pound.

There’s an increase in demand for metals around the world. A lot of people are using metal in countries like China and India that previously didn’t use so much. It is pushing up the demand.


The growing demand from across the world has sent the price of iron – the core component of ferrous metals such as steel – through the roof.

Following this, Edinburgh in London has been plagued by thieves looking to cash in on the roaring trade in scrap metal.

Police received over several reports of scrap metal thefts in May alone.

The problem has become so bad that Lothian and Borders Police have had to draft in a CID officer to co-ordinate the fightback against the metal thieves.

According to police and metal traders, it’s a very lucrative business and thieves will go to extreme lengths to get their hands on the metal.

Average cost of replacing a gully cover is £100, but in some cases it may be necessary to replace the entire gully, costing £1000.

An indication of the lengths that crooks are prepared to go to was given last month when thieves broke into two 11,000-volt electricity substations at the Edinburgh International Climbing Centre to steal cable worth less than £20.

In May alone, police were called to investigate the theft of £500 worth of drain covers from Fishwives Causeway; £2650 of aluminium door frames stolen in Ratho Station; £4000 worth of cabling stolen from a building site on West Granton Road; copper piping and lead flashing stolen from Broughton Place; £600 of copper piping stolen from Hawkhill; ten drain covers stolen from South Queensferry; six reels of aircraft quality cabling worth £600 stolen from airport electrical contractor Crown House.

Some local authorities in England have also witnessed gangs of thieves setting up their own roadworks in broad daylight, so they can lift underground BT cables without being disturbed.

So, the wary scrap dealers are also cautious now. They keep a record of every item that is brought into their yard, along with the name and address details of the individuals dropping it off and a record of their vehicles.

Manhole covers are largely made of cast iron and come in all shapes, sizes and weights so it’s difficult to put a price on how much such an item is worth. However, the current price for iron is about £150 a tonne.

You can get about £120 a tonne for steel and between £500 and £600 a tonne for aluminium. The prices for iron are at a record high at the moment and still going up.

In United States, governments are being warned of the potential for a new wave of material thefts involving ferrous (iron and steel) infrastructure metals such as manhole covers and sewer/stormwater grates.

ISRI announced that it has received several reports of these infrastructure metals being stolen in communities across the country. The reports are shared with the industry through the ISRI Theft Alert system.

The uptick in ferrous metal theft raises concern because of the wide availability of iron and steel materials that could be stolen. Often thieves cause significant damage to the materials in the process of the theft making replacement costly and recovery difficult.