Scrap metal guides for sellers, buyers and exporters

Why this guide library exists

Most of what is written about scrap metal is written for people who already work in it. Dealers talk to dealers in shorthand, price sheets assume you know what HMS or UBC means, and the people who actually generate scrap, a homeowner clearing a shed, a builder finishing a renovation, a workshop with a bin of offcuts, are left guessing whether an offer is fair.

ScrapTrade's guide library is the opposite of that. Each guide answers one practical question in plain language, uses real numbers where they exist, and says so clearly when something depends on the country, the buyer, or the day. None of them are padded with filler, and none pretend that scrap pricing is simpler than it is.

The library covers three things: how scrap metal works and what it is worth, how to trade it well on a marketplace, and how it moves across borders. Together they are meant to leave you better informed than the person on the other side of the weighbridge, which is where fair prices start.

Pick a reading path

There are 26 guides, and you do not need to read them in order. The quickest way in is to pick the path that matches why you are here.

If you have scrap and have never sold any

Begin with How Scrap Metal Recycling Works so you understand where your material goes after you hand it over, then read Ferrous vs Non-Ferrous Metals, because the single biggest price difference in scrap is whether a magnet sticks to it. After that, How to Grade Your Scrap shows what you can do before selling to move your material into a better grade, and How Much Is My Scrap Worth? pulls the five pricing factors together. Keep the Scrap Metal Terms Glossary open in another tab while you read the rest.

If you buy scrap for a mill, yard or manufacturing business

Start with How to Buy Scrap Metal Online, then Buying Scrap Online vs Visiting Yards for an honest comparison of time and cost. If you want to understand how to get the best price from competing sellers, read Fixed Price vs Auction vs Wanted Board and Reverse Auctions vs a Single Quote.

If you want to export or import scrap

Read The World's Biggest Scrap Metal Markets first to see where demand really sits and why, then go to the corridor guide closest to your route. There are six: US to India, India to the UAE, Australia to the UAE, UK to the UAE, Canada to India and Australia to Malaysia. Finish with The Real Cost of Sourcing Scrap Abroad before you book a flight to meet a buyer.

If you are following the wider market

Copper Tariffs and Scrap Explained, Critical Minerals and Urban Mining, How EV Battery Recycling Works and Scrap Metal Theft in 2026 cover the forces that are changing what scrap is worth and who is allowed to trade it.

The basics: what scrap is and what sets its price

These five guides are the foundation. If you only read part of the library, read these, because every other guide assumes you know the ideas in them.

Metal-by-metal pricing and the rules around selling

Once the basics are clear, these guides go deeper on the materials people most often ask about, plus the two policy questions that surprise sellers most: tariffs and tax.

Trading on a marketplace: selling, buying and negotiating

A marketplace gives you choices a single local yard never will. These guides explain how to use each one properly.

Exporting scrap: six corridor guides

Cross-border scrap trade is where mistakes are most expensive. Each corridor guide covers the paperwork and the regulations that apply to that specific route, and each is clear about what the platform does and does not handle. Export licensing and customs remain the responsibility of the exporter and importer, which is why the details matter.

The bigger picture: markets, policy and sustainability

The last group is for readers who want the context behind the prices: why some countries import enormous volumes of scrap, how governments are reacting to metal shortages, and what recycling really saves.

How we write these guides

Every guide in the library follows the same rules. Figures come from named, checkable sources rather than from round numbers that sound plausible. Where research firms disagree, we say they disagree instead of picking the number we like. Where a rule only applies in one country, we label it that way so a reader elsewhere does not act on it by mistake.

We also try to be straight about limits. A guide can tell you how a corridor works, what documents are normally needed and where the common traps are, but it cannot replace advice from a licensed customs broker, an accountant or a lawyer when the decision is large. Each guide flags those moments rather than glossing over them.

Frequently asked questions