With prices of iron skyrocketing, scrap markets are in great demand. These markets have everything except, of course, respect for the law. Near the livestock market at the farthest point in south Jeddah, thousands of tons of scrap iron is being sold at a makeshift auction. Expatriates control 90 percent of the market built on over a million square meters. Overlooking all regulations, unlicensed shops have come up on about every inch of the area and even authorized shops are being manned by unlicensed workers, Okaz reported. Mohammad Al-Harbi, a broker, said thousands of tons of iron is brought into the market unchecked. “Trucks loaded with iron, old cars and broken down machines are auctioned off for SR2,000 to SR 3,000 per ton,” he said, adding that the auctioned iron is promptly sold to compressor or yard owners at a very small profit. Mohammad Al-Otaibi, a Saudi, said expatriates brokers always seek to squeeze out young Saudis. “If they see us offering bid for any truck load, they offer higher prices.” Only crumbs are left for us, he complained. Those overseeing the yards are also expatriates and that they favor their fellow nationals. “They only buy for us when sale starts thinning out at the end of the dealing period,” he said. On the other side of the scrap market, illegal yards have sprouted up unchecked. Sheets of zinc separate hundreds of yards where overstayers of various African nationalities sell scrap iron. “At these squatter areas, deals worth hundreds of thousands of riyals are struck every day,” said Saleh Al-Saleh, a shopkeeper. “Unfortunately, the owners are overstayers who have stripped the city of iron. It is high time to put an end to this unorganized market by checking all vehicles entering the market,” he said. A new regulatory system in coordination with the Jeddah Municipality and the police to reorganize the market, serve investors and ascertain legality of goods is planned, Abdullah Al-Sefri, head of the Iron, Scrap and Car Stripping Syndicate, said. __
