Exchange charts & U.S. scrap metal price trends

Global reference for aluminum scrap. Use it if you sell UBC cans, extrusion, cast, or old rims—when LME climbs, U.S. buy prices for clean aluminum grades tend to firm up.

Critical for Li-ion batteries. Cobalt moves influence what some U.S. yards pay for e-waste and EV-related battery scrap.

The benchmark U.S. scrap yards watch for non-ferrous. When COMEX copper rises, payouts for bare bright, wire, radiators, and brass usually follow within days—yards hedge and reprice off this contract.

Hot-rolled coil: the clearest futures signal for ferrous scrap in the U.S. When HRC is strong, shred, HMS, and plate often see better scale prices; when it drops, expect softer offers.

Barometer for black scrap. A sharp drop in iron ore often flows through to lower shred and mixed steel prices at domestic scales.

Global lead pricing. Check it before hauling auto batteries (lead-acid), wheel weights, or cable lead—battery scrap payouts track this curve more closely than most grades.

Nickel is what makes stainless expensive. This chart helps time sales of 304/316 and other Ni-bearing scrap before the scale.

Tin drives value in solder, babbit, and clean tin-bearing scrap. One of the smaller but pricier non-ferrous streams U.S. yards quote carefully.

Zinc futures matter for die-cast (ZAMAK) scrap—carb parts, door handles, castings—and for clean zinc anodes. Rising zinc often supports higher offers at the yard.