Scrap Metal Market News and Daily Briefing

A plain-language read on what scrap prices are doing: today's moves, the week in numbers, and the benchmarks behind the board, refreshed automatically with the live data.

Updated · Figures are the USD reference board · Methodology

Today's market briefing

As of October 16, the reference board shows copper scrap at $5.71 per lb, up 0.71 percent on the day and down 0.83 percent on the week; aluminum at $0.78 per lb, down 2.65 percent on the week; and steel at $300 per ton, flat on the week.

The biggest mover of the past week on the board is aluminum scrap, down 2.65 percent over five trading days, while over the past month the largest change belongs to aluminum scrap, down 9.81 percent. Day-to-day wiggles rarely reach a yard board unchanged; moves that hold for a week usually do, which is why the weekly column in the table below is the one worth watching.

Yard prices follow these reference moves with a short lag: falls are passed through within a day or two, rises more slowly. The live board carries all fifteen grades, the charts show the path, and the why prices change guide explains the machinery.

The week in numbers

Reference board changesUSD · Oct 16, 2026
MetalPriceDayWeekMonth
Copper Scrap $5.71 / lb ▲ +0.71% ▼ -0.83% ▲ +0.02%
Aluminum Scrap $0.78 / lb ▲ +1.30% ▼ -2.65% ▼ -9.81%
Brass Scrap $3.49 / lb ▲ +0.87% ▼ -0.71% ▲ +0.03%
Stainless Steel Scrap $0.57 / lb ▲ +0.00% ▲ +0.00% ▲ +0.00%
Steel Scrap $300 / ton ▲ +0.00% ▲ +0.00% ▲ +0.00%
Iron Scrap $264 / ton ▲ +0.00% ▲ +0.00% ▲ +0.00%
Lead Scrap $0.59 / lb ▲ +0.00% ▲ +0.00% ▲ +0.00%
Zinc Scrap $0.90 / lb ▲ +0.00% ▲ +0.00% ▲ +0.00%

Indicative USD reference prices derived from exchange benchmarks and typical yard recovery shares; country boards convert these to local currency and units. Weekly and monthly changes compare daily closes five and twenty-one trading days apart.

Benchmarks behind the board

Every scrap grade on this site is derived from a public benchmark. These are the latest values and their dates; the recovery shares that turn them into scrap prices are published on the methodology page.

COMEX copper futures
$6.59 / lb · Oct 16
CME aluminum futures
$3,094 / tonne · Oct 16
CME US hot-rolled coil steel
$1,357 / ton · Oct 16
NYMEX platinum futures
$1,639 / oz · Oct 16
NYMEX palladium futures
$1,120 / oz · Oct 16
IMF nickel price (monthly)
$16,632 / tonne · Jul 1

Analysis and updates

Aug 29, 2026 Plumbing Strip-Out: 21 Percent of the Weight, 72 Percent of the Money A bathroom and kitchen yields about $414, and copper is $331 of it. The solder question is worth $10, the brass is worth $49,… Aug 29, 2026 One Rewire, $1,112 Sorted or $338 in a Skip Forty percent of the weight carries 89 percent of the value on an electrical job. What a service upgrade generates, what mixing costs, and… Aug 29, 2026 Commercial Kitchen Strip-Out: $1,187 of Metal, and Why That Is the Wrong Number A full kitchen is 2,730 pounds and about $1,187 at our board. A sink worth $86 as scrap costs $1,020 new. Item values, the… Aug 29, 2026 Treadmills and Weights: $37 of Metal, and the Part Worth Selling Instead A stripped treadmill is 155 pounds of metal worth about $37. Weight plates are worth three and a half times more sold than scrapped.… Aug 29, 2026 Gutters and Roofing Metal: $12, $70 or $481 for the Same House The material decides everything. What aluminium, copper and galvanised guttering yield on a typical house, the siding grade nobody explains, and why copper covers… Aug 29, 2026 Mowers and Garden Metal: $7 Whole, $17 Sorted, and the Deck Worth Checking A push mower part by part, why the engine is a fifth of the weight and 42 percent of the value, what a riding… Aug 29, 2026 Scrapping Safely: The Injury Data Says Buy a Trolley Before Gloves Sprains, burns and cuts are the three most common injuries and overextension is a top cause. What a $252 kit covers, the task-specific hazards,… Aug 29, 2026 Prepared or Unprepared: The Tape Measure That Sets Your Ferrous Price Ferrous grading comes down to thickness and piece size. Cutting to 60 by 24 inches is worth about $0.045 a pound, or $360 on… Aug 29, 2026 Pots, Pans and Cutlery: $32 for a Whole Kitchen, and $17 of It Is One Pan Cookware is recyclable metal that jams kerbside sorters, so it goes to a yard. Item by item values, the copper-bottom trap, and why usable… Aug 29, 2026 Walk-In, Account or Contract: Three Ways a Yard Can Price You Walk-ins get a posted board with a margin buffer. Contracts get a formula tied to the exchange. On copper that difference is over $1,100…

How to read this page

The briefing and tables are generated from the same data that drives the boards: exchange benchmarks fetched twice daily, converted into indicative scrap prices through published recovery shares. Nothing here is a prediction and nothing is an offer; it is a record of what the reference prices did.

To act on it: check your own market's board on the country pages, compare your grade against the live board, and use the calculator before you load. Corrections and questions: info@scrappricetoday.com.