Essential information for end of life vehicle dismantling, depollution and recycling

June 12, 2026

Closing the Gap: Why the Catalyst Market Can’t Afford Old Pricing Models

Catalyst pricing needs to move beyond opaque margins, delayed settlements and inflated toll-refining promises. Dafydd Dylan of F.J. Church argues that ATFs need clearer upfront pricing, faster cash flow and data-led accuracy, with laboratory-tested converter values helping suppliers secure fairer returns without taking on unnecessary market risk.

Catalytic converters remain a significant part of the end-of-life vehicle revenue mix, but the way they are priced is under growing pressure. Dafydd Dylan of F.J. Church argues that old models built around opaque margins, delayed settlements and toll-refining promises no longer reflect what suppliers need: clear pricing, faster payment, and confidence that the value in the can is being assessed accurately from the outset.

For decades, the catalyst market has operated on an accepted imbalance: the further down the chain you go, the closer you get to true value.

Collectors sell at a discount, traders capture margin, refiners realise the full economic value, eventually.

That structure made sense when information was limited, pricing was opaque, and time was the inevitable cost of certainty. But the market has fundamentally changed.

High Prices, Deep Distress

It is an open secret that despite high PGM (platinum group metals) prices over recent years, the wider automotive recycling sector has been pushed into severe distress. With vehicle processing margins squeezed across the board, catalytic converters have borne an unnatural burden, acting as a critical pillar of scrap car revenue.

But we must be honest about the chemistry: there is absolutely a physical ceiling to that value.

When a market is under pressure, it becomes highly vulnerable to over-promises.

When margins are tight, suppliers are understandably drawn to any model that promises to squeeze a few more pounds out of a unit. Yet, this desperation has allowed unrealistic assumptions to take root.

The Myth of the “Toll Uplift”

To bridge the gap, many operators have pointed towards toll refining as the ultimate solution, dangling the promise of a “10% to 15% uplift” over standard cash terms.

Let’s be blunt: that claim defies the actual accounts and margins this industry has ever achieved.

Traditional toll refining does not magically create extra value; in many cases, it merely passes the burden of risk backwards onto the supplier while reducing transparency at the point of purchase.

By pushing the final settlement weeks or months down the line, toll refining forces suppliers to gamble on market volatility. If PGM prices drop whilst your material is sitting in a processing queue, that promised headline return evaporates. Instead of a clean, guaranteed deal today, suppliers are left trading on variables, complex assay calculations, and deferred outcomes.

It is a model designed to protect the buyer’s margin, not the supplier’s cash flow.

The Real Constraint: Conviction, Not Capability

The industry does not lack technical capability; it lacks widespread confidence in decision-making at speed.

Paying closer to refining levels on an immediate, upfront basis requires a business model engineered to operate with absolute conviction. A buyer must be equipped to consistently manage volatile market movements and confidently stand behind every single purchase, without hiding behind the safety blanket of delayed toll-refining terms.

Without the operational precision to hedge and process material flawlessly, paying higher upfront prices quickly becomes unsustainable. To survive, most buyers retreat into caution, and the traditional wide spreads or delayed-toll models remain intact.

The F.J. Church Perspective: Sustainable Precision “In the Can”

At F.J. Church, we have focused our operations on a singule objective: bringing refining-level economics directly to a simplified spot purchasing model.

We believe suppliers shouldn’t have to take on the financial risk of a lengthy refining process just to get a fair return. Our step forward has been to strip away the complexity by offering highly competitive, refining-adjacent spot buying directly in the can.

This level of precision is not something an operator can set up overnight; it takes many years of rigorous data collection to build. The pricing infrastructure driving our buying catalogue app isn’t based on guesswork or arbitrary grading. It is powered by an extensive database of true, laboratory-tested content, sampled, de-canned, and meticulously analysed over decades.

Is it accurate? Crucially so. Is it sustainable? Yes, because it is built on hard science, making it robust enough to support a vast, continuous collection network.

By leveraging this data, we can accurately value material and close the deal immediately. It allows us to share the exact same transparency with our suppliers on every single load, time after time. No deferred risk. No waiting for the assay results to drop. No trading away your certainty.

What Comes Next

The direction of travel is set. The traditional delta between spot buying and refining returns will continue to compress, not just because suppliers demand it, but because the market’s leading operators are already proving it is possible.

In the end, success in this market won’t be won by deferred promises or mathematical illusions. It will belong to those who can deliver immediate value, maintain flawless operational execution, and give suppliers the transparency and repeatability they need, right now.