The live price of copper per pound from the COMEX futures market in New York, the benchmark US scrap yards and fabricators price from.
Typical US scrap yard payouts as a share of COMEX. Yards set their own prices; call ahead for today's rate.
China buys roughly half the world's copper, so Chinese construction and factory data move the market more than anything else. Power grids, data centers, electric vehicles and renewable energy add steady long-term demand: an EV uses several times more copper than a gasoline car.
On the supply side, a handful of giant mines in Chile, Peru and the Democratic Republic of Congo dominate output. Strikes, water shortages or new export rules there can lift prices quickly. US tariff decisions on imported copper have also opened gaps between the COMEX price and the London (LME) price.
Copper is trading at $6.704 per pound on COMEX, +0.18% on the day. That is $14.78 per kilogram or $14,780 per metric ton.
Scrap yards pay a share of the COMEX price depending on grade: bare bright about $5.70–$6.17, #1 copper about $5.36–$5.90, #2 copper about $4.83–$5.50 per pound today.
Copper has moved +31.2% over the past 12 months, from about $5.10 a pound.
Because copper is used in construction, power grids, electronics and vehicles, its price tends to track the health of the global economy, so traders treat it as an economic barometer.
COMEX (New York) quotes copper in US cents per pound and sets the benchmark US scrap yards use. The London Metal Exchange quotes dollars per metric ton. The two usually move together but can trade at a premium or discount to each other.