Metal Dealer
The scrap and metals trader — buying and selling metal materials from industrial and commercial sources.
What it's like to be a Metal Dealer
As a Metal Dealer, you buy and sell scrap metal and raw metal materials. You might purchase scrap from businesses and individuals, sell to processors and manufacturers, or trade between suppliers and buyers. It's commodity trading with physical materials.
Your day involves evaluating materials, negotiating prices, managing logistics, and tracking market conditions. You might inspect scrap at an industrial site, negotiate purchase prices, arrange transportation, and monitor metal commodity prices that affect your margins. Physical inspection of materials is often required.
If you're interested in commodities and don't mind the industrial environment of metal dealing, this offers entrepreneurial opportunity. The challenge is the market volatility and the need to accurately evaluate materials. The people who thrive here develop expertise in metal grading and maintain strong supplier and buyer relationships.
Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
How this category is changing
Skills & Requirements
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