On 17 October 2026 EUWID Recycling reported that the London Metal Exchange three-month copper contract had risen above 14,600 dollars a tonne at the start of the second full week of October and had then given some of that gain back. The same note put the print at 14,657 dollars a tonne and said it narrowly missed the mid-September all-time high. Reuters, in a 12 October metals report, recorded official three-month activity at 14,657 dollars after an intraday high of 14,688 dollars, the strongest since 25 September. Westmetall’s official table matches that 12 October three-month settlement at 14,657.50 dollars.

News service MBI, cited by EUWID, said the German wholesale purchasing price for copper scrap rose by 25 euros per 100 kilograms against the previous week. Brass scrap rose by 10 to 15 euros depending on the grade. Red brass rose by 10 euros. Zinc scrap lost 5 euros. Aluminium scrap grades covered by MBI fell by 5 to 10 euros per 100 kilograms. Those figures are weekly wholesale changes, not a walk-in list and not a seaborne index.

The week before had been quiet. On 12 October EUWID said the three-month contract had hovered around 14,400 dollars in the week starting 5 October and that German non-ferrous traders had reported unchanged prices.

Why the exchange moved

Reuters tied the 12 October copper lift to mine supply. Codelco had partly suspended El Teniente in Chile after a landslide on 11 October killed two workers. A strike at Antofagasta’s Centinela mine was still running, with talks due to resume the next day. Nearby metal was tight: the premium of LME cash copper over the three-month contract stood at 181 dollars a tonne, the highest since late August, against a discount of 86 dollars a month earlier.

That cash premium is a nearby-delivery signal. It does not set a Berry or Birch payable on its own. A yard that sold on the 12 October print and still has metal on the floor is working against an exchange that had already eased by the time EUWID wrote on 17 October. Westmetall put the 16 October three-month official settlement at 14,485 dollars a tonne, with LME copper stocks at 225,425 tonnes.

The late-September German copper-scrap record sat on the same exchange. See German copper scrap hits new records. Last week’s MBI move is a follow-through after a quiet week. EUWID did not call it a second record.

Copper and brass moved; aluminium and zinc did not

Brass is a copper-zinc alloy, so a copper jump often lifts yellow metal in the same MBI week. Keep brass out of the copper bag. Yellow brass (Honey), red brass, radiators and a refinery mix remain different products. A mixed yellow-metal bag will be priced as the weakest reading.

Aluminium went the other way. Reuters said three-month aluminium had touched 3,023 dollars a tonne on 12 October, the lowest since 13 February, before recovering to 3,058 dollars in official activity. EUWID then recorded the German aluminium-scrap cut. A Taldon, Tata or Tense parcel should not be offered off last week’s copper screenshot. See aluminium scrap and the European aluminium premium.

Zinc followed the exchange lower. Reuters put three-month zinc down 1.3 percent to 3,758 dollars on 12 October after 7,250 tonnes were delivered into LME warehouses. That explains the MBI zinc-scrap ease. Keep zinc off the copper ticket.

Ferrous HMS and shredded are a different book. Copper in fragmentiser steel is a residual the melt pays less for. Do not price a German E3 or E40 parcel off this week’s copper move. See HMS scrap and shredded scrap.

Who it affects among yards, traders, mills and processors

Yards should sort unalloyed copper from brass before the scale. At these levels the gap between Berry or Birch and a mixed fittings drum is the working-capital cost of a mis-named lot. Last week’s MBI print is a wholesale change. Recheck the bid before you load, because the 14,657-dollar official print had already eased by 16 October. Theft and cash-out risk rise when cathode is this high; that is an operations issue, not a price forecast.

Traders booking a German ex-works copper lot and a CFR Asian or Turkish remelt lot are writing different contracts. Do not price one off the other without freight and the payable. BIR’s October non-ferrous note already recorded some European smelters postponing already-purchased material. Ask whether the booked tonnes still have a delivery week.

Processors and remelters see high cathode and a cash premium that says nearby metal is tight. A named No. 1 wire or clean solids lot is bookable. A mixed copper-scrap drum is a claim. Aurubis’s late-2028 Hamburg pre-processing line does not change this week’s purchasing ticket.

Steel mills that melt HMS or shredded are not the offtake for this move. Aluminium remelters should treat the MBI aluminium cut as their own book.

The Commission’s draft waste-import list is a 2027 file. It does not change a copper container loading this week. Treat destination planning separately from this week’s German wholesale number.

How to name the lot

Name the preparation the melt already uses: Berry or No. 1 wire, Birch or No. 2 wire, Candy or clean solids, Honey or yellow brass solids, red brass. Add tonnes, packing, city or load point, and whether the sale is ex-works, delivered or FOB. State if the lot is insulated cable, radiators or turnings. Do not write a live LME screenshot or last week’s MBI change on the listing. How to sell scrap metal still starts with a named grade and a named load point. Scrap metal prices depend on that grade, not on a weekly wholesale delta.

Verified companies can place the parcel on live lots or answer a wanted notice. Request access if you sell German or other EU copper and brass or buy for a remelt or chopper.