About ScrapMetal API

The scrap metal industry moves billions of dollars every year, but pricing data is still stuck in PDFs, trade publications, and behind expensive paywalls. We built ScrapMetal API to change that.

The Problem

If you're building software for the recycling industry — a yard management tool, a procurement platform, a trading algorithm, or an estimating app — you need scrap metal prices. But getting them programmatically is painful. Existing metal APIs cover gold, silver, and exchange-traded base metals. None of them cover the actual scrap grades that the industry trades: Bare Bright copper, HMS 1 steel, Yellow Brass, Aluminum UBC cans. That data is scattered across government databases, exchange delayed quotes, and biweekly PDF reports.

Our Solution

ScrapMetal API aggregates pricing data from multiple public sources, normalizes it into a clean JSON format, and serves it via a simple REST API. One API key, one endpoint, all the scrap metal pricing data you need. We cover 4 metal categories and 14 scrap grades with ISRI specification codes, updated daily.

Data Sources

We aggregate from trusted, publicly available sources:

  • FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)

    Producer Price Index series for iron, steel, and ferrous scrap. Public domain, updated monthly.

  • CME Group

    Delayed settlement prices for Busheling Steel Scrap, Copper, and Aluminum futures.

  • LME (London Metal Exchange)

    Delayed end-of-day prices for base metals including copper, aluminum, zinc, lead, nickel, and tin.

  • SteelBenchmarker

    Biweekly benchmark prices for HMS and shredded steel scrap.

Who It's For

Scrapyard software developers

Embed live pricing in yard management and POS systems

Manufacturing procurement teams

Track material costs for budgeting and estimating

Commodity traders & analysts

Build models with grade-level scrap pricing data

Construction tech companies

Factor steel and copper scrap prices into project estimates

Sustainability & ESG platforms

Report on recycled material market values

Academic researchers

Access historical commodity pricing for analysis

Get Started

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