Non-ferrous scrap metal prices
The exchange price is public, and it is shown below. What it does not tell you is what a specific lot of scrap is worth. This page explains the distance between the two.
Markt
Basismetallpreise
Aktuelle Preise werden geladen…
Indikative Basismetallpreise in US$ je Tonne. Keine offiziellen LME-Abrechnungsdaten und kein Angebot — fragen Sie uns nach einem Festpreis.
How a scrap price is arrived at
Every non-ferrous scrap price starts from the exchange quotation for the underlying metal. The London Metal Exchange publishes a price per tonne for refined copper, aluminium, zinc, lead and nickel, and that figure is the reference point the whole trade works from.
Scrap does not trade at that figure. It trades at a discount to it, because scrap is not refined metal: it carries other elements, coatings, attachments and moisture, and somebody has to pay to turn it into metal a consumer can use. The discount is the cost of closing that gap, plus the margin at each step between your yard and a furnace.
So a quotation is really a judgement about one number: how far below the exchange price a particular lot sits. That is why photographs and an honest description are worth more than any published price list. A grade that is clean, well separated and consistently presented sits closer to the exchange price than the same metal mixed with attachments.
Variables
What moves the discount
Grade and purity
The recovered metal content, and how much work it takes to get there. Bare bright copper wire and light copper sheet are the same element, and they do not fetch the same price.
Consistency
A lot that matches its description throughout is worth more than one where the top of the load is not representative of the bottom.
Tonnage
Freight is charged by the movement, not by the kilo. A full load carries a lower cost per tonne than a part load of the same material.
Location and packing
Distance to the receiving point, and whether the material is loose, baled, bagged or already containerised. Both are real costs and both come out of the price.
The market itself
Exchange prices move daily, and the appetite of consumers for a particular grade moves with them. A quotation is firm for a stated period rather than indefinitely.
About the figures on this page
The table above shows the LME 3-month price, delayed by fifteen minutes, refreshed hourly. It is the published exchange reference, not a quotation, and not the price of scrap. Nobody should plan a sale on it alone — ask us for a firm figure against your actual material.
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Common questions
Scrap metal prices, explained
What is the current price of scrap copper in the UK?
There is no single figure. Scrap copper is priced at a discount to the LME copper quotation, and the discount differs by grade: bare bright wire, No.2 wire, heavy solids and insulated cable are all copper and all price differently. The live LME reference is shown on this page. For what your material is worth, send photographs and a tonnage.
Why will you not publish a price per tonne for each grade?
Because it would be wrong by the time you read it, and wrong for most lots even when written. Scrap prices move with the exchange daily and vary with quantity, location and presentation. A published list would either be so hedged as to be useless or so specific as to be misleading.
What is the LME 3-month price?
It is the London Metal Exchange price for delivery in three months' time, which is the contract the trade most commonly references for base metals. It is not the same as the cash settlement price, and neither is the price of scrap.
How often do the prices on this page update?
Hourly, from the LME's own fifteen-minute-delayed public feed. If a reading cannot be refreshed, the previous figure is kept with its original timestamp and the panel marks itself as indicative rather than presenting an old number as current.
How long is a quotation valid for?
It is stated on the quotation. Because the underlying exchange price moves daily, a firm price is given for a defined window rather than left open.
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