How copper scrap pricing works.

COMEX is the weather report

Every copper buyer in America watches the same number: the copper futures price on COMEX, the New York metals market. Think of it as the weather report for copper — it tells the whole trade which way the wind is blowing. Scrap prices don't equal the COMEX price, but they move with it. When the market is up, scrap is up; when it drops, scrap drops. Any buyer who quotes you without checking the market that day is either guessing or playing games. I check it, and I quote against it — that's what "today's number" means.

Why bare bright pays more than #1 and #2

It all comes down to one thing: how much actual copper is in the pound. The industry specs (ReMA's ISRI Specifications, the standard the whole trade uses) draw three simple lines. Bare bright is the cleanest: bare, uncoated, unalloyed copper wire — nothing on it, nothing in it. #1 copper is clean, uncoated copper wire and cable, free of burnt or brittle wire. #2 copper is the mixed bag: miscellaneous unalloyed copper wire, roughly 96% copper by assay, with more allowed for oil, coatings, and attachments. The cleaner the copper, the closer it tracks the benchmark — that's the whole pricing story. Tarnish, paint, solder, burnt insulation, and steel attachments all push a load down the grade ladder, and the grade is what moves the number.

What "recovery percentage" means

Insulated wire isn't priced on what it weighs — it's priced on how much copper is inside the jacket. "Recovery" is simply that percentage: a wire with 70% recovery is 70% copper and 30% insulation by weight. Thick, heavy-jacketed cable recovers less; thin, light insulation recovers more. The buyer pays for the copper, not the plastic. This is also why you should never strip wire yourself to "get more" — stripping is slow, dangerous work, and a good buyer prices insulated wire on its recovery and handles the rest. Send a photo of the wire as-is; I'll grade it from there.

Why prices move every day

Copper is a global commodity, and the price moves with the market daily — mine strikes, currency swings, construction demand, grid buildouts, electric-vehicle growth, a headline out of China. A number posted on a website last week is already wrong. That's why I don't post prices here: anything I printed would be stale by the time you read it, and a stale price is how sellers get burned. The honest system is the one the whole industry uses — call or text, get today's number, deal on today's number.

Why I quote by phone, not on this page

Because every load is different. Grade, form, quantity, and how well it's sorted all move the offer — a posted number would be wrong for nine out of ten piles. The phone call takes two minutes: you text me a photo of what you have, I check the market, and you get today's number for your material. No games, no bait-and-switch at the scale, no "that price was for a different grade" when I show up. What I quote is what I pay.

Pricing questions, answered.