A drop in alcohol consumption among young adults is having the unexpected impact of driving ferrous scrap flows in California's wine country, as vineyards cut back on acreage.
Scrap generated by northern California vineyards is a reliable part of the region's metal supply chain. The grapes grow on steel wires strung between 6-foot-tall steel "grape stakes," with a certain percentage of them recycled each winter after the harvest.
A decline in wine drinking in the US has caused grape growers to reduce their planting acreage, leading to significantly more grape stake recycling. At least 30-40pc more grape stakes are entering the scrap market in the region for recycling this year compared to previous seasons, metal recyclers tell Argus.
"We're being bombarded with grape stakes," a Bay Area scrap recycler said.
An acre of cleared vineyard land yields about one short ton (st) of grape stakes, another northern California scrap recycler said. The total volume of grape stakes scrapped in the San Francisco Bay Area is unclear, but one source estimated as much as 50,000st this year.
Wine drinking falls after pandemic spike
About 54pc of US adults said last year that they drank alcohol, the lowest mark in at least 90 years, according to a poll by analytics firm Gallup. That figure was at about 60pc as recently as 2023, the poll found.
The decline in alcohol consumption is among all demographics, but health-conscious young adults are driving the trend. Around 59pc of adults aged 18 to 34 said they drank alcohol in 2023, but that figure fell to 50pc in last year's Gallup poll.
US wine consumption has been falling since a 2021 peak of 1.06bn USG, according to the Wine Institute, a California-based industry group. By 2024 consumption had fallen by 18pc to 870mn USG.
California growers have responded to the drop in demand by planting fewer grapevines and removing others. Winegrape acreage has been falling in California since 2018, when the state's Department of Food and Agriculture estimated about 637,000 acres planted. Winegrape acreage fell by about 7pc to an estimated 590,000 acres in 2024.
A new mapping project by the California Association of Winegrape Growers showed the downtrend in grapevine planting continued last year, with nearly 40,000 acres of vines removed between October 2024-August 2025.
Those barren acres have added significant tonnage of grape stakes to California scrap yards' stockpiles.
A regional scrap bright spot
Sputtering consumer spending and weather disruptions in California curbed typical scrap supply flows this winter, such as from used cars and appliances. But grape stakes have been a bright spot, a handful of Bay Area recyclers said.
Grape stakes are a niche grade of scrap lighter than a typical #1 HMS that can be processed in a variety of ways. They can be sheared and mixed into HMS 1/2 80:20, but the wires attached to the stakes can make processing them challenging. The stakes can also be blended in with shredder feed.
Shredder feed delivered to San Francisco area scrap export yards has trended up this year, rising to $192/gross ton (gt) on average through 17 March, up by $13/gt from last year. The long-term pricing trend has been falling since a pandemic-era spike, when shredder feed reached a 2021 average of $260/gt delivered in the San Francisco area.
Grape stake recycling is typically seasonal, but local scrap yards said they have received a steady stream of them throughout the past year.
"We've been doing grape stakes nonstop for eight months," a Bay Area recycler said. "It doesn't look like it will stop anytime soon."
