What is the copper list price, and why do scrap copper prices follow it?
Scrap copper buying prices move with the copper market. Learn what the list price of electrolytic copper is, how to read it and how to follow it, so you can plan ahead when selling scrap.
Scrap copper buying prices are not fixed: they change with the price of copper on the market. One public, regularly updated reference is the list price of electrolytic copper published by JX Advanced Metals (JX金属).
What is the copper list price?#
The copper list price (銅建値) is the selling price of electrolytic copper (copper cathode) on the Japanese market, published by JX Advanced Metals, one of Japan's largest copper producers. It is revised several times a month as world copper prices (LME) and the exchange rate move; the monthly average is published once the month ends.
Units and how to read the price table#
Prices are quoted in Japanese yen per tonne (JPY/t). Each revision has an effective date and holds until the next one. When comparing, it is therefore better to look at the trend over several weeks, or at monthly averages, than at a single revision.
- Current price: the price now in effect, with the date of the latest revision.
- Change: the difference from the previous revision, as an amount and as a percentage.
- Monthly average: the average of the month's prices – useful for long-term comparisons.
Why do scrap copper prices follow it?#
Once recycled, scrap copper partly replaces refined copper as a raw material, so its value is tied to the market price of the metal. When world copper prices rise, scrap buying prices usually rise too, and vice versa. For a given lot, the price also depends on:
- World copper prices (LME) and the exchange rate.
- The grade of copper and how much copper can be recovered – see how to tell scrap copper grades apart.
- How clean the scrap is and how much foreign material it contains.
- The size of the lot, its location and the cost of collection.
Following prices on the Huynh Hoang Minh website#
Our Market prices page follows the world copper, zinc and aluminium prices in VND per tonne, updated automatically several times a day from MetalCharts, with the source named. A daily price chart and a table of monthly averages are on the copper price history page.
