Brass scrap flows to the brass-rod, fittings and ingot industries — Jamnagar in India, the Pearl River Delta in China, Brescia in Italy and the Turkish and Korean mills — from the plumbing, hardware and ammunition scrap of the United States, Europe, the Gulf and Japan.
Brass scrap flows to the brass-rod, fittings and ingot industries — Jamnagar in India, the Pearl River Delta in China, Brescia in Italy and the Turkish and Korean mills — from the plumbing, hardware and ammunition scrap of the United States, Europe, the Gulf and Japan.
Brass is traded as a copper alloy and priced off the copper exchange, but it has its own geography because its buyers are specific: mills that extrude brass rod for fittings and valves, foundries that cast taps and sanitaryware, and ingot makers who supply both. Those mills cluster — nowhere more so than at Jamnagar in Gujarat, which imports yellow brass scrap from every exporting region, and at Brescia in northern Italy and Dongguan and Zhongshan in China.
The exporters are the plumbing-rich economies: the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan and the Gulf states, where demolition and dismantling release taps, valves, fittings, radiators and cartridge cases. Honey (mixed yellow brass solids), Ebony (red brass), Night (turnings) and Pales (refinery brass) are the grades that move.
| From | To | What moves | How it ships |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | India (Jamnagar), China, South Korea | Honey, Ebony, Night, radiators | Containers from Port Newark, Los Angeles–Long Beach, Houston |
| European Union | India, Italy (Brescia), Germany, Turkey, China | Yellow and red brass, turnings | Containers and road; Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg |
| United Kingdom | India, Pakistan, China | Honey, Ebony, mixed brass | Containers from Felixstowe, Southampton |
| Gulf states (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait) | India, Pakistan, China | Brass fittings, radiators, mixed brass | Containers from Jebel Ali, Hamriyah, Jeddah |
| Japan | China, South Korea, Thailand | Brass solids, turnings, cartridge brass | Containers from Tokyo, Osaka |
| Malaysia, Thailand | China | Upgraded brass meeting GB/T 38470 | Containers; processing-and-re-export route |
A brass rod mill wants Honey and clean cuttings of known alloy; a foundry wants Ebony and castings; an ingot maker takes the mixed and refinery grades and blends them. Lead content is the dividing line in modern brass — low-lead and lead-free plumbing alloys are now required in many markets, so leaded free-cutting brass must be kept apart from the fittings grades.
Brass ships in containers, often bagged or loose in the box, and is assayed on arrival for copper, zinc, lead, iron and aluminium.
China’s GB/T 38470 standard for recycled brass raw material sets purity requirements. India’s import conditions for brass scrap, including inspection and the handling of ammunition scrap, are on our India page. Cartridge cases and military brass need deactivation certificates and, in some countries, export licences.
Each country page carries its mills, smelters, yards, price references and the named firms on this site.