Scrap Brass Market Recovery Slow, Outlook Remains Gloomy

As of November 13, 2025, the price of scrap mixed brass in mainstream markets has risen to 49,100 yuan per ton, an increase of approximately 5,000 yuan per ton compared with the same period last year. Since the start of this year, except for the low points in March and April, the price of scrap mixed brass has basically been in an upward range. Especially after copper prices climbed significantly at the end of September, it has reached a new high. While upstream suppliers have reaped considerable profits from the rising copper prices, the capital cost of trade has also increased. For downstream manufacturers, they are faced with end-market resistance to high-priced products and a series of issues such as profit shrinkage caused by this.

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Market Supply and Demand Situation

Traders: Although a small number of large-scale traders have maintained a certain level of order volume, the order volume of most traders has decreased compared with the same period last year. At the same time, except for some import traders with relatively good profit performance, the order profits of most traders have also declined.

Brass Manufacturers: Currently, a few downstream copper manufacturers have received more orders than last year, but the order volume of most copper manufacturers has shown a downward trend. Coupled with the end market’s strong resistance to high-priced products and the high price of scrap brass raw materials in the market, the overall profit margin of the downstream has been significantly compressed.

Supply Side

According to research, the supply of scrap brass raw materials in most regional markets is relatively tight, and the tightness has further intensified compared with the same period last year. On one hand, many traders stated that due to the reduction in industrial waste sources, the supply volume of various source channels in the market has shown a downward trend. On the other hand, the high price has increased the risks faced by traders, making them more cautious in purchasing. Under the combined effect of the above two factors, the resistance to spot circulation in the market is self-evident.

Demand Side

It is not difficult to see from the research results that against the background of the overall shrinkage of order profits and the decline in the number of orders for downstream brass manufacturers, manufacturers can only adopt a cautious strategy in the procurement link to control production costs, which also makes large-scale purchases difficult to occur in the market. In addition, some regions are still affected by policy factors, leading to hindered factory operations, which further reduces the downstream demand for raw materials.

Comprehensive Outlook

Overall, although the supply and demand situation of the scrap brass market has improved to a certain extent recently, there is still a considerable gap compared with the same period last year, especially in terms of order profits, where both upstream and downstream customers have reported varying degrees of reduction. Looking ahead, given the slow recovery of current market demand and copper prices remaining at a high level, the subsequent development trend of the scrap brass market is expected to remain gloomy.