Metal prices for job shops
Metal is sold by weight. A supplier's price for sheet, plate or bar is a price per pound or per kilogram for the grade and the form, adjusted for the size, the quantity, any cutting and the delivery. To price material on a quote, work out the weight you have to buy, scrap included, multiply by your supplier's current price, and add your markup.
See the figures for October 2026 Open the metal cost calculator
What are metal prices now?
In October 2026, aluminum averaged US$1.39 a pound, copper US$6.58, nickel US$7.00 and zinc US$1.73 on the London Metal Exchange. In the United States, mill prices for cold-rolled steel sheet rose 4.9% in September 2026 and were 36.9% higher than a year earlier. In Canada, hot-rolled steel products in September 2026 were 25.2% higher than a year earlier.
These are market and mill prices, not service centre prices. A service centre charges more for cut sheet, plate and bar, because it adds processing, freight, small-quantity handling and its margin. Use these figures to see which way prices are moving, and your supplier's quote to price a job.
Aluminum, copper, nickel and zinc
| Metal | Price per pound | Since September | Since October 2025 | Past 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AluminumPrimary ingot, 99.7% pure | $1.39$3,061 a tonne | Down 6.8% | Up 9.6% | |
| CopperGrade A cathode | $6.58$14,508 a tonne | Up 0.2% | Up 35.1% | |
| NickelCathode, 99.8% pure | $7.00$15,436 a tonne | Down 5.4% | Up 2.3% | |
| ZincHigh grade, 99.95% pure | $1.73$3,818 a tonne | Down 5.0% | Up 21.1% |
Steel and aluminum from United States mills
| Product | Index | Since August | Since September 2025 | Past 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold-rolled steel sheet and stripSeries WPU101707 | 492.5 | Up 4.9% | Up 36.9% | |
| Hot-rolled steel bar, plate and structural sectionsSeries WPU101704 | 319.7 | Up 3.0% | Up 15.0% | |
| All steel mill productsSeries WPU1017 | 388.6 | Up 2.2% | Up 27.6% | |
| Aluminum mill productsSeries WPU102501 | 370.5 | Down 0.1% | Up 25.2% |
Steel and aluminum from Canadian producers
| Product | Index | Since August | Since September 2025 | Past 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot-rolled iron and steel productsVector v1230996167 | 167.0 | Down 1.3% | Up 25.2% | |
| Cold-rolled iron and steel productsVector v1230996168 | 144.8 | Up 0.5% | Up 7.5% | |
| Semi-finished aluminum productsVector v1230996187 | 190.1 | Up 1.2% | Up 4.1% |
Every trend line uses the same scale, so a steeper line is a bigger move. The thin rule is the level a year ago.
Sources
- Aluminum, copper, nickel and zinc: The World Bank, Commodity Price Data (The Pink Sheet), edition of 3 November 2026, used under the CC BY 4.0 licence. Monthly averages, converted here from US dollars per tonne to US dollars per pound.
- United States: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Producer Price Index, not seasonally adjusted, retrieved 12 November 2026. The latest four months are preliminary and can be revised. BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.
- Canada: adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 18-10-0266-01, Industrial product price index, by product, monthly, retrieved 12 November 2026. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
What is in a supplier's price?
- A base price by weight for the grade and the form, per pound, per kilogram or per hundredweight (100 lb).
- Size and form: thin gauges, unusual widths and lengths, and cold-finished bar cost more per pound than standard stock sizes.
- Quantity: the price per pound falls as the order gets heavier. One sheet costs more per pound than a full skid.
- Cutting: shearing, sawing or cutting blanks to size, charged per cut or per piece.
- Surcharges: stainless and some alloy steels carry a surcharge that mills reset every month.
- Delivery and minimums: freight or a fuel charge, and a minimum order value.
- Paperwork: material with mill test reports, or to a named specification, can cost more.
What moves metal prices?
- Steel follows scrap steel and iron ore, and how full the mills are.
- Aluminum follows the London Metal Exchange price plus a regional premium, which in North America is the Midwest premium.
- Stainless follows nickel, chromium and molybdenum through the monthly surcharge.
- Copper and brass follow the exchange price of copper.
- Everything moves with energy, freight, tariffs and mill lead times.
Which metals cost more?
Carbon steel is the cheapest per pound. Aluminum and 304 stainless usually cost several times as much per pound as carbon steel. 316 costs more than 304 because it carries molybdenum and more nickel, and 7075 aluminum costs more than 6061. Copper alloys, tool steels and titanium cost more again.
Compare by the part and not by the pound. Aluminum weighs about a third as much as steel, so an aluminum part needs about a third of the weight. The metal cost calculator works out the weight of a piece in any of these metals.
How do you turn a price per pound into material cost on a quote?
- Work out what you have to buy. That is the blank or the cut length plus the saw kerf, the drop at the end of the bar, and the part's share of the sheet skeleton. It is more than the weight of the finished part.
- Multiply by your supplier's price for that grade, form and quantity.
- Add what the supplier charges on top: cutting, freight and any minimum.
- Add your material markup.
- Decide who pays for the remnant. If the leftover is not something you will use, the job should carry the whole bar or sheet.
For sheet metal, the cut calculator gives the number of sheets and each part's share of the cost. The sheet metal quoting guide shows where material sits beside cutting, bending and finishing.
How long does a metal price hold?
A supplier's quote carries an expiry date, and stainless surcharges change every month. Date every price in your own price list, and say on your quote how long its price holds. A quote that stays open for months on last season's material price can turn a good job into a loss.
Where can you check metal prices?
The price that matters is the one on your service centre's quote for your quantity. Public reference prices show which way the market is moving: the London Metal Exchange for aluminum, copper and nickel, hot-rolled coil indexes for steel sheet, and the stainless mills' monthly surcharge postings. The tables at the top of this page gather the free official figures each month. None of them is what a job shop pays, because a service centre adds its own processing and margin.
How does RobinQuote use your prices?
Every RobinQuote setup is built on the shop's own material price list. The draft quote reads the material, the gauge or the stock size from the customer's PDF drawing and prices it from that list, so changing a price once changes every new quote.
Questions about metal prices
Where do the price figures on this page come from?
From three public sources. Aluminum, copper, nickel and zinc are the World Bank's monthly commodity prices. The United States figures are producer price indexes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Canadian figures are from Statistics Canada's industrial product price index. Each table names its month and its source.
Why is my supplier's price higher than the market price?
The market price is for metal by the tonne, at the exchange or the mill. A service centre buys it, stocks it, cuts it to size, delivers it in small quantities and adds its margin. Sheet, plate and bar also cost more to make than the ingot or cathode an exchange price refers to.
How often are the figures updated?
Once a month. The World Bank publishes each month's average early in the following month, and the United States and Canadian indexes follow later that month. The newest figure is always for last month or the month before.
Is there a public price for stainless steel?
Not a free one. Stainless is sold at a base price plus an alloy surcharge that each mill posts every month for its own grades. Nickel is a large part of the surcharge on 304 and 316, so the nickel price is a guide to which way stainless is heading.
Is metal sold by weight or by the piece?
By weight, in most cases. A service centre may quote a price per sheet or per bar, but that figure comes from the weight and a price per pound or per hundredweight, which is 100 lb. Asking for the price per pound makes quotes from different suppliers comparable.
Why does the price per pound fall when I buy more?
Suppliers price in weight brackets. A larger order spreads handling, cutting setup and delivery over more pounds, and a full bundle or skid needs less handling than single sheets.
What is a stainless steel surcharge?
An amount per pound that mills add to the base price of stainless to cover the alloys in it, mainly nickel, chromium and molybdenum. It is reset every month, so the price of 304 or 316 can change even when the base price does not.
Should a shop mark up material?
Most do. The markup covers handling and storage, the money tied up between buying the metal and being paid, and the risk of scrapping a part. Keep the figure in one place so every quote applies it the same way.
How often should a shop update its material prices?
Whenever a supplier's quote changes, and at least monthly for stainless because of the surcharge. Put a date beside every price in your price list so a stale one is easy to spot.
Look up a thickness in the sheet metal gauge chart, or see all the free tools.
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