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Business Beat: Columbia's major export to world power is scrap

A pile of copper wire at Fusselman Salvage. Copper is the top type of scrap that Missouri exports in dollar value
Eva Dou
/
KBIA
A pile of copper wire at Fusselman Salvage. Copper is the top type of scrap that Missouri exports in dollar value

This week: Columbia’s biggest export to China isn’t corn, soybeans, or any manufactured product.  It’s scrap metal.  In fact trade experts are calling Columbia’s export “waste and scrap.” Plus, find out how one farmer is still shifting through the aftermath after losing hundreds of acres of farmland.

Last year’s flood on the Missouri River was the worst in 60 years. The surging river closed bridges, burst through levees, inundated homes, and threatened a nuclear power plant. The river also drenched hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland.