Every copper grade priced in CNY per , updated daily from exchange settlements and this market's own level.
Copper scrap in China is worth CN¥25.26 to CN¥90.30 per kg today, depending on grade. Bare Bright Copper sits at the top of the board and communication wire at the bottom, a spread of about 3.6 times. Prices are quoted in CNY per kg and move daily with the exchange settlement.
Yards grade copper by cleanliness, coating and gauge. The spread from the top grade to the bottom runs 25 to 35 percent, so identifying what you hold matters more than the day you sell.
Converted from the exchange settlement at this market's rate and level. Indicative reference prices, not offers. Aluminium, brass and steel prices in China.
Chinese dealers quote both ferrous and non-ferrous scrap in yuan per tonne, usually including VAT, and the trade watches the spread between Shanghai Futures Exchange copper and the scrap bid. This page shows non-ferrous per kilogram for comparison with other countries; multiply by 1,000 for the per-tonne figure.
Against the global reference: Chinese domestic scrap trades at a discount to import-grade material and to the US reference.
Grade names travel less well than the metal does. Whatever a local merchant calls it, the specification behind each grade is the same one used on export contracts, which is why the ReMA code appears on every card above.
The board above is the national indicative level. City yards trade around it rather than exactly on it, because local competition, freight to the nearest consumer and export demand all move the spread. Two quotes in the same city can differ by several percent on the same morning.
Shanghai and the Yangtze delta form the largest copper consuming region in the world. Import rules on recovered copper decide what can land here, and those rules move prices more than local supply does.
Copper that moves here: Recovered copper meeting national purity thresholds; Copper granules and clean processed wire; Number 1 copper from industrial refits.
Guangdong is the electronics manufacturing heartland of China, so the copper here is dominated by fine wire, boards and motor windings rather than construction material.
Copper that moves here: Fine insulated wire and cable from electronics work; Motor windings and transformer copper; Copper from board and component processing.
Tianjin serves northern China as a port and processing centre, feeding the industrial belt around Beijing and Hebei with imported and domestic material alike.
Copper that moves here: Bulk recovered copper through the port.
Scrap imports must meet the national standards for recycled copper, aluminium and steel raw materials; material that does not qualify is treated as waste and refused. Domestic dealers are licensed and larger trades are invoiced with VAT.
Copper attracts more scrutiny than any other scrap metal because it is the most stolen. A yard that asks for identification is following the law; one that does not is the greater risk to you, since a load with no paper trail is the load a buyer can dispute later.
China consumes more scrap than any other country and sets the direction of the world market for copper and aluminium scrap. Domestic collection has grown fast, while imports are restricted to material that meets the national recycled raw material standards, so import grades trade at a premium to mixed domestic scrap.
Prices are quoted in the Pearl River Delta (Guangdong), the Yangtze Delta around Shanghai and Zhejiang, and the northern hubs of Tianjin and Hebei, with Shanghai Futures Exchange copper as the domestic benchmark.
Copper sits differently in that picture from the ferrous grades. It is worth enough per kilogram to travel, so a merchant a long way from a refinery can still pay close to the reference by shipping to one. That is why the spread between the best and worst copper quote in a country is usually narrower than the spread on steel, where freight eats the margin.
Grade decides more of your payment than timing does. Four checks settle almost every load.
Sorting into separate piles before you weigh is the highest-paid work in this trade. A mixed load is graded at the lowest grade present, so one soldered joint in a clean pile can regrade the lot.
| Currency | Chinese yuan (CNY) |
|---|---|
| Price units | Per tonne in the trade; shown here per kg and per tonne |
| Benchmarks | Shanghai Futures Exchange copper and aluminium |
| Main hubs | Guangdong, Zhejiang and Shanghai, Tianjin, Hebei |
| Trade position | Largest consumer, selective importer |
Between CN¥25.26 and CN¥90.30 per kg depending on grade, quoted in CNY. The board above shows every grade, updated daily.
Because they have different outlets. A merchant who can sell straight to a refinery pays closer to the reference than one who has to ship material onward, and both build their freight into the quote. Local competition does the rest, which is why calling two or three merchants is worth more than picking the day.
Bare Bright Copper, at CN¥90.30 per kg today. It is the strictest grade on the board: clean, uncoated, unalloyed wire of heavier gauge, with no oxidation and no attachments.
Above roughly 48 percent copper recovery, usually yes. Below it, usually not. Thick building cable strips quickly and pays; thin communication cable does not. Burning insulation is never the answer: it is unlawful in most jurisdictions and it downgrades the copper rather than improving it.
Yes, though less than most sellers expect. The board on this page is the national indicative level and city yards trade around it. What moves a local quote is how many buyers can economically reach you, how far the material has to travel to a consumer, and whether there is an export outlet nearby.
Daily. Copper settles on the exchange every business day and every scrap grade moves with it, because each grade is priced as a share of the refined metal price rather than set independently.
$6.22 / lb
C$8.34 / lb
£9.74 / kg
A$18.08 / kg
€12.04 / kg
€11.81 / kg
€12.16 / kg
€11.81 / kg
€11.81 / kg
€11.93 / kg
¥2,077 / kg
₩18,096 / kg
₹1,193 / kg
৳1,483 / kg
Rs 3,274 / kg
AED 47.84 / kg
SAR 47.82 / kg
₺691.10 / kg
R 186.00 / kg