Copper scrap flows from the cable-stripping and dismantling industries of the United States, Europe and Japan to the secondary smelters, refiners and brass mills of China, India, South Korea and South-East Asia — a trade reshaped by Chinese import standards.
Copper scrap flows from the cable-stripping and dismantling industries of the United States, Europe and Japan to the secondary smelters, refiners and brass mills of China, India, South Korea and South-East Asia — a trade reshaped by Chinese import standards.
Copper is the most valuable of the bulk scrap metals, and its trade is measured in millions of tonnes and billions of dollars. The sources are the same industrialised countries that export steel scrap, because copper scrap comes from the same places: demolished buildings, scrapped cars, replaced cables, discarded appliances and electronics.
For two decades the destination was overwhelmingly China, whose secondary smelters and brass mills imported every grade down to mixed “Category 7” wire and motors. From 2019 China restricted and then reclassified scrap imports: only material meeting its recycled-copper and recycled-brass raw-material standards may enter. That single change rerouted the world trade. High-grade copper still goes to China; lower grades go to India, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, South Korea and the European refiners, or are upgraded in Malaysia and Thailand before being re-exported to China as compliant material.
India has grown into the second pole of the trade, importing copper and brass scrap for its Jamnagar brass industry, its wire-rod mills and its secondary smelters, and the German, Belgian and Spanish refineries remain the European destinations.
| From | To | What moves | How it ships |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea | Bare bright, No. 1, No. 2, insulated wire, radiators | Containers from Los Angeles–Long Beach, Port Newark, Savannah, Houston |
| European Union (Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy) | China, India, Germany/Belgium refineries, Turkey | No. 1 and No. 2 copper, millberry, brass | Containers from Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg; road and rail within the EU |
| United Kingdom | India, China, Belgium, Germany, Pakistan | Copper solids, insulated wire, brass | Containers from Felixstowe, Southampton, Liverpool |
| Japan | China, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand | No. 1 copper, wire, brass | Containers from Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya |
| Gulf states (UAE, Saudi Arabia) | India, China, Pakistan | Copper cable, brass, radiators | Containers from Jebel Ali, Hamriyah, Jeddah |
| Malaysia, Thailand | China | Upgraded copper and brass meeting GB standards | Containers; the processing-and-re-export route |
| Australia, Canada, Mexico | China, India, South Korea, United States | Copper solids, wire, brass | Containers |
Bare bright and No. 1 copper go almost directly to wire-rod mills and refiners and move with the least friction. No. 2 copper and light copper need refining and go to secondary smelters. Insulated wire goes to the granulation industries of Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, India and Pakistan. Copper-bearing motors, transformers and radiators are dismantled where labour costs allow, which is why the processing industries sit in South and South-East Asia.
Copper is shipped in containers, sealed and weighed, because of its value; theft and substitution are the trade’s standing risks, and letters of credit with inspection clauses are the norm.
China’s recycled-copper standards (GB/T 38470 for brass, GB/T 38471 for copper) set purity thresholds that compliant importers must meet. The Basel Convention and the EU Waste Shipment Regulation govern mixed and contaminated copper scrap and e-waste. India has at times required licensing or BIS-related conditions for certain categories, and several countries treat lead-sheathed cable as hazardous. Our rules guides cover each.
Each country page carries its mills, smelters, yards, price references and the named firms on this site.