Scrap
Overview
Argus provides comprehensive and detailed coverage of the global ferrous and non-ferrous scrap markets, with over 1,000 prices assessed by a global network of highly skilled market experts.
Argus’ strength lies in our ability to create appropriate methodologies for the trading dynamics of a specific spot market and to provide mechanisms for valuing scrap alloys.
Participants in the scrap industry rely on our extensive price data to act as an independent contract settlement mechanism, and use our powerful tools, like the Argus Alloy Calculator, to estimate the intrinsic value of highly engineered alloys.
Ferrous coverage
Argus offers a comprehensive regional view of the most active spot markets for ferrous scrap in regions around the world. Each price is available for direct comparison in multiple markets, with currency and unit of measurement conversions available to standardise charts and facilitate detection of favourable trade conditions.
Distinguished by either fob dealer or delivered to consumer inco terms, all prices are aligned with common industry specifications for that region. Explore the full list of scrap prices and specifications, including the length of history available on the Argus Metals platform for the grades assessed.
- Bundles
- Busheling
- Foundry/specialty
- Heavy melt
- Machine shop turnings
- Plate and structural
- Shredded scrap
- Tool steel
- Stainless and super alloys
- Alloy Calculator, where the current value of any alloy can be calculated by an intrinsic value formula in the absence of sufficient liquidity to produce a proper assessment
Non-ferrous coverage
Argus provides the full range of non-ferrous coverage from scrap price assessments on UBC, zorba, taint, tweak, and twitch products, as well as exchange data (30-minute delay LME and Comex prices are standard with Argus products) and global base metal premiums. Explore the full list of scrap prices in each non-ferrous category and visit the exchange data page to understand the unique value that Argus brings through its analysis of global exchange prices.
- Aluminium prices
- Aluminium alloy prices
- Brass/bronze prices
- Copper prices
- Lead prices
- Nickel prices
- Stainless and alloys
- Zinc prices
- Alloy Calculator, including over 200 predefined common alloys
- Exchange data
Highlights of North American coverage
Argus’ coverage of the North American scrap market focuses on spot market trading patterns within the most active regional domestic trading locations, as well as on export transactions. The full value chain is represented in the suite of Argus scrap assessments, from collected at yard to delivered to consumer prices:
- 8 containerised scrap price locations
- 14 consumer buying scrap price locations, including US and Canada
- 8 export yard scrap buying price locations
- 4 dealer selling scrap price locations
- 139 regional US and Canada non-ferrous scrap yard collection prices
- Prime and obsolete grades of scrap price assessments
- Mill and foundry grades of scrap price assessments: Titanium, stainless and scrap alloy pricing
- Southern US busheling and shredded weighted average assessments
Highlights of European coverage
Argus Scrap Markets provides context and intelligence to European domestic scrap markets to help steel mills, scrap suppliers, buyers and industrial manufacturers gain a greater understanding of the markets in which they operate. Argus produces over 50 European scrap prices assessments, including:
- German domestic ferrous scrap prices
- Spanish domestic ferrous scrap prices
- Spanish imported scrap prices
- UK domestic ferrous scrap prices
- Russia, including St Petersburg, dockside price
Highlights of Asian coverage
Argus carries Asian scrap prices from a variety of mature scrap-generating markets, and provides insightful analysis of deep-sea trades and short-sea trades. Argus covers the full scope of steel mill purchasing activity for electric arc furnace-based production, including stainless and engineered steels, in recognition of the global nature of many steel feedstocks purchased by mills across the world:
- Taiwan imported ferrous scrap prices
- India imported ferrous scrap prices
- Pakistan imported ferrous scrap prices
- Bangladesh imported ferrous scrap prices
- China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan imported aluminium scrap prices
- China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan imported copper scrap prices
Argus carries a variety of global scrap prices in each of its three core products — Argus Scrap Markets, Argus Ferrous Markets and Argus Non-Ferrous Markets. To discover the combination of products that will provide the most complete coverage to serve your company’s needs, contact us for a consultation. Information about Argus subscription options can be found here.
Stay ahead of the scrap metal markets
To be informed of relevant content, sign up to Argus Scrap Metal Market Highlights. Each newsletter issue provides key prices, selected news, downloadable insight papers, podcasts, and on-demand videos across the global scrap markets. Our coverage spans both ferrous and non-ferrous scrap, enabling you to explore the most active spot markets for scrap around the world.
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Browse the latest market moving news on the scrap industry.
GCC steel trade sees slow recovery
GCC steel trade sees slow recovery
London, 17 June (Argus) — Steel market participants in the Middle East do not expect prices to normalise immediately, or for raw material inflows to recovery quickly, following the announcement of a potential US-Iran peace deal. Market sentiment has improved but expectations for an imminent peace deal have not yet changed the physical steel market, participants said. Freight costs and insurance premiums will probably ease gradually, and buyers are cautious after production and shipment delays, stoppages and force majeure notices during the conflict. Metallics and pellets A peace deal that results in the reopening of the strait of Hormuz will likely first affect steelmaking raw materials, before any impact is felt in the finished steel market. Steel mills in Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries have faced tighter availability of iron ore pellets, direct reduced iron (DRI), hot-briquetted iron (HBI) and scrap since trade through Hormuz was disrupted, with DRI-based production in the region heavily dependent on seaborne raw material flows. Iran was a key supplier of merchant DRI and HBI to the GCC before the conflict, leaving Gulf producers exposed. The UAE has been less affected than some other GCC markets because mills have been able to source some pellet and DRI from Oman. Pellets cannot be moved easily by road and need vessel access through specific ports. Major pellet supplier Bahrain Steel's iron ore cargoes were delayed outside the strait of Hormuz, docked at Madagascar and later discharged in India, sources said. Traders expect some of this material to be brought back to the Gulf once the strait reopens. Saudi Arabia has also faced scrap shortages but this will not be resolved quickly after the strait reopens, market participants said. Domestic scrap generation is limited and collection usually slows during the summer. Saudi scrap availability is unlikely to improve in June-September, regardless of whether Hormuz reopens, a regional market participant said. Semi-finished steel The disruptions to raw material flows have increased demand for semi-finished steel, because billet can be moved more easily than pellets or other bulk raw materials. This has made billet a more workable replacement for mills that cannot secure enough metallics, even if inland transport costs remain high. Saudi buyers have bought significant amounts of billet in recent weeks, including a large cargo from India. Billet cargoes are being discharged at western Saudi ports and transported by truck to a major production site in the east of the country, because of the effective closure of the strait and despite elevated trucking costs. Iranian billet has continued to move in small volumes, even though Iranian flat steel supply was disrupted by earlier restrictions on slab exports following attacks in late March that led to production stoppages. Some Iranian billet has been sold into Saudi Arabia outside the regular channels, but sales to UAE have been scarce because of import certification requirements. Around 50,000-60,000t of Iranian billet is currently on vessels and could be sold to Turkey or Syria, sources said. Sellers are waiting for higher prices before closing deals, with Iranian billet heard at $410-420/t fob. Finished steel output, exports Long steel prices in the GCC have risen since the start of the conflict, with the Argus UAE ex-works rebar index rising by 325 dirham/t ($90/t) to Dh2,750/t from 4 February-4 June. Major Saudi producer Hadeed hiked its rebar offers by 670 riyals/t ($180/t) to SR2,930/t. Meanwhile, Argus ' hot-rolled coil (HRC) cfr UAE import assessment rose by $110/t from late February to $600/t cfr on 21 May. Hadeed increased its HRC offers by SR490/t to around SR2,800/t in late May compared with before the war started. Saudi prices are expected to fall once raw material supply improves and output normalises, but any decline is unlikely to be immediate. Mills first need to rebuild their inventories, clear delayed cargoes and confirm that freight costs are decreasing, sources said. No immediate market change took place after the latest political announcements, a UAE flat steel producer said. Steel prices do not move like equities, as buyers need to see whether a deal is signed, whether it holds and whether Hormuz opens fully before treating Middle Eastern cargoes as normal again, the producer said. Finished steel exports from the GCC are unlikely to recover quickly. Buyers outside the region are expected to apply a risk discount to Middle Eastern material after recent delays and cancellations. EU sales are also limited by uncertainty surrounding country-specific safeguard quotas and carbon border adjustment mechanism requirements. Some Saudi export orders are on hold while sellers wait for clarity on EU quotas for the next quarter. By Elif Eyuboglu and Amruta Khandekar Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Australia’s Hancock to cut Roy Hill iron ore production
Australia’s Hancock to cut Roy Hill iron ore production
Sydney, 17 June (Argus) — Australian producer Hancock plans to cut back production at its Roy Hill iron ore mine in Western Australia's Pilbara region, in a move to extend the mine's lifespan by a decade, the firm said on 17 June. Mining activity would be reduced at Roy Hill mine, but it would maintain a production rate of over 63mn t/yr, the company said. Roy Hill produced its first iron ore shipment in 2015 and has an expected lifespan of 20 years. The updated mine plan would extend its life by 10 years, maximise the amount of orebody it could turn into product, and reduce the amount of waste mined, Hancock subsidiary Hancock Iron Ore said. Hancock Iron Ore operates the mine, which was created following the merger of Atlas Iron and Roy Hill, both previously owned by Hancock. Roy Hill shipped 61.6mn t of iron ore over its fiscal year to 30 June 2025 despite record rainfall in the Pilbara and major interruptions from tropical cyclone Zelia, the firm said in October 2025. Argus estimates Roy Hill shipped 66mn dwt of iron ore in the 2022 calendar year, 66.6mn dwt in 2023 and 63.7mn dwt in 2024. Hancock Iron Ore is planning to process an additional 8mn t/yr of ore at Roy Hill from the McPhee Creek mine, with first ore previously expected in the 2026 financial year. This arrangement would also extend the life of the Roy Hill mine, it said. By Emma Partis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
European longs steel traders see weaker 2H
European longs steel traders see weaker 2H
London, 12 June (Argus) — Steel market participants are expecting a slower, lower-margin second half of 2026 following the supply-led rally in prices over the first half of the year. Long steel prices in particular rose very sharply in the several weeks following the outbreak of the war in the Middle East, with electric arc furnace mills highly exposed to rising energy costs. Supply constraints and regulatory uncertainty — fuelled first by the launch of the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and compounded by impending 1 July tightening to EU and UK steel quotas — drove buyer restocking over the past several months. But now, trading sources note, the attention of steel market participants is shifting from supply over to demand, which is lacking. As per Argus ' assessments, following the outbreak of the US-Israel war with Iran at the start of March, rebar prices rose €167.50/t ($194/t) in Italy by the end of May, and by €100/t in Germany and Spain over the same period. Many traders held significant inventory at the time the war broke out, having stocked up ahead of CBAM, so benefited greatly from the surge in prices. But a source at a major European trading firm said margins in the second half of the year are set to be much weaker, as prices are softening on weak demand. Argus ' monthly German rebar assessment fell by €15/t on 10 June to €695/t delivered, while the weekly domestic Italian assessment has fallen by €25/t so far this month, standing at €705/t ex-works as of 10 June. Market participants have noted that prices for finished products did not match the swift gains of mills' long steel prices over March-May. At the same time, several traders have commented that the steel and other commodity markets have become less reactive to the developments in the Middle East war. Escalated strikes by the US in Iran this week prompted little or no movement in either steel or oil prices. Many market participants are, however, concerned about the medium-term deflationary impact of what they believe would be an oversupply of oil if the strait of Hormuz were to open. For the time being, the European Central Bank's interest rate hike yesterday sets the tone for the next few months — with construction projects already facing elevated material and transport costs, higher borrowing costs will weigh on housing demand. By Brendan Kjellberg-Motton Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Western Australia backs 450,000 t/yr EAF steel mill
Western Australia backs 450,000 t/yr EAF steel mill
Sydney, 12 June (Argus) — Western Australia's (WA) state Labor government is set to invest A$9.8mn ($6.9mn) in Generation Steel, supporting the company's planned Collie electric arc furnace (EAF) mill, which will produce 450,000 t/yr of rebar from recycled scrap. The state funds will be matched by Generation and go towards completing pre-development activities after a bankable feasibility study confirmed the project's viability, WA premier Roger Cook said on 12 June. The pledge follows a previous A$4.5mn commitment from the government for the facility. WA issued an expression of interest for offtake-ready low-emission steel products in November 2025. Generation, previously known as Green Steel of WA, is targeting a final investment decision by late 2026, with construction starting shortly afterwards and first steel production within 24 months. The Collie EAF is set to be the state's first steel mill and the first new steel mill to be constructed in Australia in more than 30 years. The state's Pilbara region is the world's largest source of iron ore — the most critical input of steel manufacturing. Australian methane pyrolysis developer Hazer signed a letter of intent with Generation in March to supply up to 85,000t of graphite over a 10-year term, for use in the EAF. By Tom Major Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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