Supply & Demand - Scrap Steel

Link: http://www.manufacturing.net/article/CA6389781.html

There is a very high demand for scrap steel these days. China, India and many developing countries are demanding for more scrap steel and the supply just isn't enough. It is estimated that if all technological scrap steel were to be recuperated, the domestic supply will still be too low to meet the demands. In Europe, the crude steel production has increased to 4 percent over the past year but in the scrap steel market, it has increased to 5 percent. People in Turkey expects that the prices of scrap steel will probably increase in December and definitely increase in January when consumers replenish for the winter. The lack of supply of scrap steel worldwide is said to cause domestic collection volumes to fall.

There are many factors that will affect the demand such as the price, tastes and preferences, future expectations and many more. In the case of the scrap steel market, the main reason that demand is increasing is because of the 'Number and characteristics of the Buyers'. This means that as the population increases, the demand for most products increase as well. A demand curve on a graph is shown by the inverse relationship between price and quantity demanded, it is a downward- sloping curve. When the price of an item goes up, the quantity demanded goes down.

In a market such as the scrap steel market, supply is hard to reproduce. Steel is a mineral and it's a non-renewable resource. Once it's used it, it's gone forever. For it to have a high supply, it would only happen if the demand for it wasn't so high. Scrap steel is in demand all over the world, it is used for many things after it's melted. It is used in buildings, automobile parts, roads and much more. If I invested in a scrap steel market, I think that the chances of the price increasing would be very high, since it is in demand worldwide.

Scarcity of Water

Link: ftp://ftp.fao.org/agl/aglw/docs/waterscarcity.pdf

On the second page of the link, it shows an article about " Coping with Water Scarcity: The Issue ". Water is one of the basic needs for people. Without water, people basically can't survive, we won't be able to cook, take a shower, brush our teeth and much more. As the global population increases, the usage of water increases as well. It is predicted that by the year 2015, 1800 million people will be living in countries that will face total scarcity of water. Currently, most of the countries in the Near East and North Africa suffer from minor water scarcity. The main reason is that they use a large amount of water on agricultural land, this results to a decrease in per capita of food production while meeting water needs for domestic, industrial and environmental purposes.

In chapter 1, (pg.3) it tells us the definition of scarcity. When something is scarce, it means that it has a limited supply. Almost everything is scarce, this includes air. Even though we don't need to 'buy' air in our everyday lives, but there are situations when we do need to pay for air. For example when we go scuba diving, we need a air tank to breathe underwater and mountain climbers, they need air tanks too when they are high up in the mountains since the air is scarce up there. Many other things are scarce too, such as time and money. We can't buy more time no matter how rich we are and not everyone are millionaires, so we can't afford to buy everything that we see.

I think that people need to realize that fresh water will be used up eventually and it is gradually getting faster and faster. People don't realize the amount of water they use up, from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep. There are many ways that we can do as individuals to save water. For instance, while brushing our teeth, we don't need to keep the tap water running, only turn it on when you need it. Also, instead of taking one hour showers, maybe just take half an hour, even though this may not seem much, but if you consistently save water day by day, the water saved will go up. If more people are concerned about this issue, we might just be able to save enough fresh water for future generations to come.