Scrap Prices Today: Live Metal & Scrap Prices Worldwide

Scrap prices change every trading day and differ by metal, grade and location. The Featured Scrap Prices board at the top of this page shows today's indicative price for each scrap type in US dollars per pound or per ton, together with the change against the previous close.

Copper is normally the highest-priced common scrap metal. Today's indicative copper scrap price is on the board above and on the copper chart. Bare bright and number 1 copper earn the most, while insulated wire and mixed copper pay less because of the extra processing.

Among everyday scrap, copper is the most valuable, followed by brass, then aluminum, lead and zinc. Precious metals recovered from electronics are worth more per ounce but appear in tiny quantities. Ferrous scrap such as steel and iron is worth far less per pound but trades in much larger volumes.

Scrap prices track the underlying commodity markets, such as LME and COMEX copper and aluminum, and respond to demand from mills and foundries, freight and energy costs, exchange rates, trade policy and how much material is coming in locally. Yard prices also move with how clean and well sorted a load is.

Scrap Price Today refreshes its price boards on a daily schedule and shows the time of the latest update in the market status bar under the headline. Individual scrap yards may change their buying prices more or less often than that.

Ferrous scrap contains iron and sticks to a magnet: steel, cast iron, car bodies and appliances. Non-ferrous scrap does not: copper, aluminum, brass, lead and zinc. Non-ferrous metals sell for far more per pound, which is why they are quoted per pound while ferrous scrap is quoted per ton. Stainless steel is iron-based but is usually priced on its own because of its nickel content.

Yards start from the current market price for the metal, subtract their margin, processing and freight costs, then adjust for grade, contamination, quantity and the demand they are seeing from their own buyers. Non-ferrous scrap is quoted per pound or per kilogram; ferrous scrap per ton, sometimes per gross ton of 2,240 pounds.

Local scrap yards and metal recyclers buy from the public and from businesses; larger loads can also go to dealers, brokers or directly to mills. Compare quotes from more than one yard, and check in advance whether they require identification, presorted material or a minimum quantity.

The biggest factors are commodity exchange prices, demand from steel mills, smelters and foundries, export demand from importing countries such as Turkey, India, Bangladesh and China, currency movements, fuel and energy costs, and the grade and cleanliness of the material. Local competition between yards and seasonal supply also matter.

No. Prices differ by country because of local demand, import and export rules, currency, transport costs and the mix of mills and smelters nearby. That is why this site tracks prices by country and city: the same grade of copper can sell for noticeably different amounts in the United States, India or Bangladesh.