Scrap metal prices per kg in Vietnam
| Scrap type | Price (VND) | Change | Global reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-ferrous (per kg) | |||
| Copper Scrap | ₫299,341 / kg | ▲ +1.77% | $5.75 / lb |
| Aluminum Scrap | ₫42,168 / kg | ▲ +1.25% | $0.81 / lb |
| Brass Scrap | ₫182,207 / kg | ▲ +1.45% | $3.50 / lb |
| Stainless Steel Scrap | ₫29,674 / kg | ▲ +0.00% | $0.57 / lb |
| Lead Scrap | ₫30,715 / kg | ▲ +0.00% | $0.59 / lb |
| Zinc Scrap | ₫46,853 / kg | ▲ +0.00% | $0.90 / lb |
| Battery Scrap | ₫11,974 / kg | ▲ +0.00% | $0.23 / lb |
| Radiator Scrap | ₫172,316 / kg | ▲ +1.85% | $3.31 / lb |
| Wire Scrap | ₫144,725 / kg | ▲ +1.83% | $2.78 / lb |
| Cable Scrap | ₫96,310 / kg | ▲ +1.65% | $1.85 / lb |
| Electronic Scrap | ₫41,127 / kg | ▲ +1.28% | $0.79 / lb |
| Ferrous and bulk (per tonne) | |||
| Steel Scrap | ₫7,808,886 / tonne | ▲ +0.00% | $300 / ton |
| Iron Scrap | ₫6,871,820 / tonne | ▲ +0.00% | $264 / ton |
| Car Scrap | ₫9,370,663 / tonne | ▲ +0.00% | $360 / ton |
| Cast Iron | ₫7,496,531 / tonne | ▲ +0.00% | $288 / ton |
Indicative dealer prices for clean, sorted scrap. Global reference is the US board in US dollars; the Vietnam figure applies the exchange rate (1 USD = 25,949.12 VND) and a local market factor of 0.91.
Dealers quote in dong per kilogram. Prices here are derived from the exchange settlement, converted to dong, and adjusted by a market factor of 0.91, our assessment of a market with genuine mill demand close at hand but a domestic collection chain that runs through several informal layers before reaching it. That factor is published on the editorial policy page and is open to challenge. Because mills can and do buy imported scrap, a domestic seller is competing against a cargo whose price already includes freight, inspection and a deposit; that is what puts a ceiling on local ferrous rather than any local shortage.
Vietnam scrap price chart (VND)
Daily open, high, low and close for the most traded scrap metals in VND per kg or per tonne. Scroll to zoom and drag to move along the timeline.
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Copper scrap prices by grade in Vietnam
Copper is not one price. Yards grade it by cleanliness, coating and gauge, and the spread from the top grade to the bottom runs 25 to 35 percent. These are the same grades used on export contracts, converted to VND.
The scrap market in Vietnam
Vietnam is a scrap importer, and that single fact reorders everything. The mills here consume more ferrous than the country generates, so imported scrap sets the reference against which domestic material is bought. The rules that shape the market are therefore import rules, and they are unusually strict. Under QCVN 31:2024/BTNMT, in force from 30 June 2025, imported iron, steel and cast iron scrap must meet measurable limits on heavy metals, impurities and radiation. What may be imported at all is fixed by a list issued by the Prime Minister under Decision 13/2023/QD-TTg, and shipments must be separated and presented for inspection at designated facilities.
One provision has no equivalent in any other market on this site: only end users may import. A production facility must have its own recycling technology and equipment, and warehouses meeting the environmental conditions in its licence. That removes the intermediary trader from the import chain entirely. An importer must also lodge an environmental protection deposit scaled to the shipment, and a cargo that lands and fails inspection is re-exported at the importer's cost rather than discounted into the market. The domestic collection trade sits underneath all of this, buying phe lieu from households, workshops and demolition and feeding the same mills from the other direction.
- Currency
- Vietnamese dong (VND)
- Units
- Kilogram
- Market factor
- 0.91 (our assessment, published on the editorial policy page)
- Import standard
- QCVN 31:2024/BTNMT for iron, steel and cast iron scrap, in force from 30 June 2025
- Local term
- Phe lieu, the everyday word for scrap
The most valuable scrap by weight in Vietnam today: Copper at ₫299,341 per kg, Brass at ₫182,207 per kg, Radiator at ₫172,316 per kg, Wire at ₫144,725 per kg, Cable at ₫96,310 per kg.
How much is scrap metal worth in Vietnam?
Scrap metal in Vietnam is bought per kilogram and quoted in VND. Typical ranges are Copper: ₫ 263,420 to ₫ 335,260 per kg; Brass: ₫ 160,340 to ₫ 204,070 per kg; Aluminium: ₫ 37,110 to ₫ 47,230 per kg; Zinc: ₫ 41,230 to ₫ 52,475 per kg; Lead: ₫ 27,030 to ₫ 34,400 per kg; Stainless steel: ₫ 26,115 to ₫ 33,235 per kg. Across common non-ferrous grades that puts most material between ₫ 26,115 and ₫ 335,260 per kg, with copper at the top of the range and stainless steel near the bottom.
These are ranges rather than quotes. The band reflects day-to-day movement in the metal market and the spread between one yard and another, which our own research has found can reach 40 percent or more for the same metal in the same city. The midpoint is derived from the international exchange settlement converted to VND and adjusted by our published market factor of 0.91. Expect a local buyer to sit toward the lower end, because they carry collection, sorting, processing and their own margin. Always confirm the rate per kilo for your specific grade before anything is weighed.
- Copper: ₫ 263,420 to ₫ 335,260 per kg
- Brass: ₫ 160,340 to ₫ 204,070 per kg
- Aluminium: ₫ 37,110 to ₫ 47,230 per kg
- Zinc: ₫ 41,230 to ₫ 52,475 per kg
- Lead: ₫ 27,030 to ₫ 34,400 per kg
- Stainless steel: ₫ 26,115 to ₫ 33,235 per kg
Where Vietnamese aluminium scrap actually goes
Vietnam's aluminium recycling is not concentrated in industrial plants. Much of it happens in lang nghe, craft villages, and the largest in the north is Man Xa, in Van Mon commune, Yen Phong district, Bac Ninh province.
The scale is domestic but not small. The hamlet holds roughly 450 aluminium smelting and recycling operations and about 100 scrap trading businesses. The trade goes back more than fifty years, beginning with households casting pots and pans, and in recent decades it has grown into a supplier of aluminium raw material to industrial groups and manufacturing companies.
It made people wealthy. Locals and outsiders call Man Xa lang ty phu, the billionaire village, because of the houses the trade paid for. A deputy chairman of the Van Mon commune committee has said plainly that the work gave people jobs and high incomes, and that because the methods were manual it also caused pollution.
What the monitoring data shows
Bac Ninh's environmental monitoring network has measured it. Ambient air indicators, covering noise, dust, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, exceed permitted standards by between 1.2 and 2.8 times. Surface water at the pond receiving the village's wastewater shows organic indicators and heavy metals exceeding permitted standards by between 1.5 and 16 times.
The solid waste figures are larger still. Man Xa generates more than 80 tonnes of solid waste a day: over 60 tonnes from aluminium concentration, 12 tonnes from melting and casting, 7 tonnes from zinc smelting and 1 tonne from casting pots and pans. Around 370,000 tonnes of slag has accumulated over roughly three decades.
The craft village industrial cluster built to fix this has been described in Vietnamese reporting as operating in a state of three withouts: not yet environmentally compliant, no wastewater treatment station, and not yet meeting fire prevention requirements.
The 2026 deadline
In June 2022 the Yen Phong district committee issued an overall project for environmental treatment of the Van Mon craft villages covering 2022 to 2026. Its stated target is that by 2026, production facilities inside residential areas must relocate or change to a different trade.
That deadline is now. Reporting from late 2024 recorded hundreds of households voluntarily dismantling their furnaces and stopping work, described as a striking change in a place that had been a byword for pollution in the province.
For anyone tracking Vietnamese aluminium supply, this is the variable to watch. A relocation programme that actually completes removes a large share of informal domestic recycling capacity, and what replaces it will be fewer, larger, permitted operations.
Selling scrap metal in Vietnam: rules, ID and payment
For a household or workshop seller, Vietnam is a light-touch market: there is no scrap dealer licence comparable to Britain's or Kenya's, and the collection trade runs on ordinary business registration. The weight of regulation falls on importers and on the mills. If you are selling domestically, the practical checks are the same ones that apply anywhere: separate ferrous from non-ferrous before you go, agree the price per kilogram before the material is weighed, and deal with a buyer who has premises rather than one who does not. If you are importing, the position is entirely different, and the questions are whether your facility is on the eligible list, whether the material is on the permitted catalogue, and whether it will pass QCVN 31:2024 on arrival.
Before you sell
- Selling domestically: separate copper, aluminium and steel first. Mixed loads are priced at the lower rate here as everywhere.
- Agree the price per kilogram before weighing, not after.
- Importing: confirm your facility holds the environmental licence and the recycling capability required, because a trading company cannot import scrap into Vietnam at all.
- Importing: check the material against the Prime Minister's permitted list under Decision 13/2023/QD-TTg before contracting, not after loading.
- Importing: budget the environmental protection deposit, and treat re-export as a real risk rather than a formality, since a failed shipment cannot simply be sold locally at a discount.
Scrap prices by city in Vietnam
City pages carry local yard prices and directories for the main scrap markets. Pages that are not live yet are shown without a link.
Scrap yards in Vietnam
Find a yard by region or city, or use your location to see the nearest. Every listing shows where its details came from and when they were checked.
Yard listings for Vietnam are being added from official dealer registers and trade directories. Nothing is published until it has been verified against a named source, which is why this section is not yet populated.
Vietnam scrap price FAQ
Do I need a licence to sell scrap metal in Vietnam?
Not as a household or workshop seller. Vietnam has no scrap dealer licence comparable to those in Britain or Kenya, and the domestic collection trade runs on ordinary business registration. The heavy regulation applies to importers, not to the person selling a load of phe lieu locally.
Can a trading company import scrap into Vietnam?
No. Only end users may import: a production facility with its own recycling technology and equipment, and warehouses meeting the environmental conditions set in its licence. The intermediary trader has been removed from the import chain, which is unusual among the markets covered on this site.
What standard does imported steel scrap have to meet?
QCVN 31:2024/BTNMT, the national technical regulation for imported iron, steel and cast iron scrap used as production input, in force from 30 June 2025. It sets measurable limits on heavy metals, impurities and radiation, and replaced the 2018 version.
What happens if an imported shipment fails inspection?
It is re-exported at the importer's cost. A cargo that lands and does not meet the standard cannot simply be discounted into the domestic market, which is why the risk sits with the importer rather than being passed down the chain.
Is there a deposit required to import scrap?
Yes. Importers must lodge an environmental protection deposit scaled to the volume of the shipment. It is a real financial requirement to budget for rather than an administrative step.
Which scrap materials may be imported?
Only those on the list issued by the Prime Minister under Decision No. 13/2023/QD-TTg, which covers iron, steel and cast iron scrap along with certain other categories including non-ferrous metal scrap. Material must also be classified under the specific HS codes in that catalogue.
Why are domestic Vietnamese scrap prices below the international reference?
Because the mills have an alternative. They can import scrap graded to a national technical standard, so domestic material competes against a cargo whose quality is measured rather than assumed. That is a different pressure from the freight cost that suppresses prices in markets without a nearby consumer.
Does the import regime apply to scrap generated inside Vietnam?
No. QCVN 31:2024 governs imported material, and it explicitly excludes scrap generated from manufacturing within export processing enterprises or free trade zones in Vietnam. Domestic collection is a separate trade under separate rules.
Sources and methodology
Prices on this page start from the global reference board (US dollars per pound or per ton), are multiplied by a Vietnam market factor of 0.91 that reflects local demand, freight and trade rules, and are converted to VND at 1 USD = 25,949.12 and to metric units (kilograms and tonnes). The board refreshes daily, with the time of the latest update shown at the top of the page.
Reference sources
- Circulars 43/2024/TT-BTNMT and 44/2024/TT-BTNMT and the QCVN technical regulations issued under them, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
- Decision No. 13/2023/QD-TTg on the list of scrap permitted for import as production input
- Vietnam Environment Administration statements on port inspection and re-export of non-conforming scrap shipments
Prices are indicative and for information only; they are not offers to buy or sell. Actual yard prices depend on grade, quantity, location and the buyer. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will check it against our sources.