Nickel Alloy Scrap is used to make 2 different products, either Stainless Steel or the original alloy of the scrap.  For instance, let us use as an example Inco 718 scrap, which contains 56% nickel.  A scrap yard can easily sell this Inco 718 scrap (56% nickel) to a mill that is making Stainless Steel 303, which contains 8% nickel.  The mill will take the 56% nickel and blend it with scrap that only contains 2% nickel to make Stainless Steel 303.   The down side is that the scrap yard will not receive top dollar for the Inco 718 scrap because there is a large supply of scrap that contains 8% nickel.  This large supply drives the price of the scrap down.  On the other hand, a scrap yard finds a mill that is melting Inco 718 scrap will receive top dollar, because there small supply nickel alloys that contain the necessary 56% nickel to make Inco 718.  Obviously, this small supply drives the price of the scrap up.