Decision to amend methodology for North American non-ferrous scrap dealer buying prices, delist certain grades [corrected]

Fastmarkets will initiate the planned update of its suite of North American non-ferrous scrap dealer buying prices on Tuesday September 2, following a 30-day consultation period.

The consultation period began on Tuesday July 30 and ended on Thursday August 29. The original notice for that process can be found here.

The update to these prices will revise the existing methodology for the non-ferrous dealer buying assessments for copper, aluminium, lead and zinc scrap in the US and Canada.

Fastmarkets will base its assessments of these markets on a weighted average of the various inputs received during the fortnightly pricing sessions, replacing the current use of a calculated median for each assessed region.

Prices collected from publicly available sources, such as online platforms and distributed documents, will receive lesser weighting than prices obtained via direct contact with non-ferrous scrap market participants.

Fastmarkets will also discontinue several grades of non-ferrous dealer buying scrap in Toronto and Montreal that market participants have identified as outdated.

The following scrap grades currently assessed in Toronto and Montreal will be discontinued:

Toronto
MB-CU-0042 Copper scrap light copper, dealer buying price, delivered to yard Toronto, Canadian cents/lb
MB-CU-0058 Copper scrap red brass solids, dealer buying price, delivered to yard Toronto, Canadian cents/lb
MB-CU-0074 Copper scrap red brass turnings, borings, dealer buying price, delivered to yard Toronto, Canadian cents/lb
MB-CU-0136 Copper scrap mixed yellow brass turnings, borings, dealer buying price, delivered to yard Toronto, Canadian cents/lb
MB-AL-0070 Aluminum scrap mixed low copper clips, dealer buying price, delivered to yard Toronto, Canadian cents/lb
MB-PB-0112 Lead scrap undrained whole batteries, dealer buying price, delivered to yard US, US cents/lb
MB-ZN-0122 Zinc scrap old zinc scrap, dealer buying price, delivered to yard US, US cents/lb

Montreal
MB-CU-0041 Copper scrap light copper, dealer buying price, delivered to yard Montreal, Canadian cents/lb
MB-CU-0057 Copper scrap red brass solids, dealer buying price, delivered to yard Montreal, Canadian cents/lb
MB-CU-0073 Copper scrap red brass turnings, borings, dealer buying price, delivered to yard Montreal, Canadian cents/lb
MB-CU-0135 Copper scrap mixed yellow brass turnings, borings, dealer buying price, delivered to yard Montreal, Canadian cents/lb
MB-CU-0181 Copper scrap 70-30 brass clips, dealer buying price, delivered to yard Montreal, Canadian cents/lb
MB-CU-0196 Copper scrap auto radiators (unsweated), dealer buying price, delivered to yard Montreal, Canadian cents/lb
MB-AL-0053 Aluminum scrap segregated low copper clips, dealer buying price, delivered to yard Montreal, Canadian cents/lb
MB-PB-0033 Lead scrap undrained whole batteries, dealer buying price, delivered to yard Montreal, Canadian cents/lb
MB-ZN-0050 Zinc scrap old zinc, dealer buying price, delivered to yard Montreal, Canadian cents/lb

The following scrap grades, currently assessed across multiple cities in the US and Canada, have been proposed for recalculation:

Copper scrap
Location: US/Canada, specified city, delivered to yard
Unit: US cents per lb (Canadian cities prices are in local currency)
For Quality and ISRI code: consult Fastmarkets’ methodology for specific quality specifications

• No1 heavy copper and wire
• Assessment: No2 heavy copper and wire
• Assessment: Light copper
• Assessment: Red brass solids
• Red brass turnings, borings
• Yellow brass solids
• Mixed yellow brass turnings, borings
• 70-30 brass clips
• Auto radiators (unsweated)

Aluminium scrap
Location: US/Canada, specified city, delivered to yard
Unit: US cents per lb (Canadian cities prices are in local currency)
For Quality and ISRI code: consult Fastmarkets’ methodology for specific quality specifications

• Segregated low-copper alloy clips
• Mixed low-copper alloy clips
• Mixed clips
• Aluminium borings, turnings, clean and dry
• Old aluminium, sheet and cast
• Used beverage cans, clean and dry
• Industrial castings
• 63S aluminium solids
• Painted aluminium siding
• Litho sheets

Lead, zinc scrap
Location: US/Canada, specified city, delivered to yard
Unit: US cents per lb (Canadian cities prices are in local currency)
For Quality and ISRI code: consult Fastmarkets’ methodology for specific quality specifications

• Heavy soft lead
• Undrained, whole old batteries
• Old zinc scrap

These prices form part of Fastmarkets’ scrap package.

To provide feedback on these prices, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to the non-ferrous city scrap assessments, please contact Sean Barry at pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading: “FAO: Sean Barry, re: Non-ferrous city scrap prices.”

To see all of Fastmarkets AMM’s pricing methodology and specification documents, go to https://www.fastmarkets.com/methodology.

This report has been corrected to remove MB-PB-0112 Lead scrap undrained whole batteries, dealer buying price, delivered to yard US, US cents/lb, and MB-ZN-0122 Zinc scrap old zinc scrap, dealer buying price, delivered to yard US, US cents/lb from the list of prices to be discontinued.

What to read next
Due to a public holiday in Finland on Friday December 26, the PIX Pulp China indices will be published on Tuesday December 30 at 11:00 CET and then as normal on Friday January 2 at 9:00 CET.
The inclusion of CBAM costs in this price assessment follows preliminary market feedback and will enable the assessment to continue to reflect spot market activity from 2026 onward. The European market continues to rely significantly on imports of ferro-manganese, and market participants have said that they believe CBAM costs should be included within the price […]
The inclusion of CBAM costs in these price assessments follows preliminary market feedback and will enable the assessments to continue to reflect spot market activity from 2026 onward. The European market continues to rely significantly on imports of ferro-chrome, and market participants have said that they believe CBAM costs should be included within the price […]
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US Midwest, $/cwt for Thursday November 13 was published earlier than scheduled due to an error. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated.
Fastmarkets is inviting feedback from the industry on the pricing methodology for its Latin America packaging paper and board assessments, as part of its announced annual methodology review process.
Fastmarkets is inviting feedback from the industry on the pricing methodology for its Latin America recovered paper assessments, as part of its announced annual methodology review process.