Scrap Metal Prices Aluminium Per Kg in India — April 30, 2026

Scrap metal prices aluminium per kg: what today’s number really means

For anyone buying or selling scrap, the first useful reference is the live aluminium rate. Today, that benchmark stands at ₹0.31 per gram, which converts to ₹310.00 per kg as of April 30, 2026. That is not automatically the exact yard purchase price for every scrap load. Still, it gives traders, fabricators and recycling units a clean starting point before they factor in alloy grade, dirt, paint, moisture, transport and melting loss. In practice, most aluminium scrap price negotiations in India still orbit around the broader MCX aluminium futures trend and the international LME aluminium market.

That matters because scrap does not trade in a vacuum. A secondary smelter in Gujarat, a utensil scrap dealer in Delhi and an extrusion recycler in Coimbatore may all quote different aluminium bhav on the same day, but the anchor rate usually comes from primary aluminium price discovery. MCX aluminium reacts to LME aluminium, the rupee-dollar move and domestic sentiment. Scrap follows, though with its own lag and discount structure.

• 1 gram: ₹0.31
• 10 grams: ₹3.10
• 100 grams: ₹31.00
• 1 kg: ₹310.00
• 1 metric tonne: ₹310,000.00

Why per-kg pricing matters more in the scrap trade

Aluminium spot price is often shown per gram for consistency across metals, but the real business happens per kg and per tonne. Scrap yards buy loose material in kilos. Foundries think in furnace batches. Industrial buyers compare an aluminium ingot price with scrap feedstock on a per-kg basis because the spread decides margins. So if you searched for scrap metal prices aluminium per kg, you are looking at the right commercial unit, not just a display figure.

One caution, though. Clean extrusion offcuts can command a much better rate than mixed household scrap. That gap widens quickly when secondary aluminium producers need high-yield material and tight chemistry control.

How scrap aluminium rates in India are built from the primary market

Scrap dealers rarely pull a number out of thin air. They start with the primary aluminium rate, then work backward. The benchmark for that process is usually LME grade A aluminium, translated into Indian terms through the USD/INR exchange rate and reflected in MCX aluminium futures. After that come local realities: import cost, domestic availability, regional freight, working capital and the condition of the scrap itself. A dealer buying oily turning scrap will not pay the same aluminium per kg as one buying clean 6063 extrusion sections. No chance.

Primary aluminium, secondary aluminium and the discount in between

Primary aluminium is the fresh metal that lines up with exchange benchmarks. Secondary aluminium comes out of recycled feed, and that is where the discount enters. Sometimes it is modest. Sometimes it is steep. The difference depends on how much usable metal survives the melt. If the scrap is painted, mixed, wet or contaminated, recovery falls and the scrap aluminium rate per kg drops. Buyers know exactly where their losses come from, and they price accordingly.

There is also a grade issue. Aluminium alloy categories change the economics. Series 1100 material, common in some foil and sheet applications, behaves differently from 6061 or 6063 structural scrap. Wheel scrap, cast scrap and extrusion scrap each attract different bids because silicon, magnesium and other alloying elements influence remelting value. That is why the aluminium scrap price you hear in one market cannot be copied blindly into another.

Demand from packaging, construction and power-heavy smelting economics

On the demand side, the story is broader than scrap alone. Aluminium foil price trends matter to packaging units. Aluminium sheet price and extrusion demand matter to construction and fabrication. Cable manufacturers watch primary metal closely because purity matters. India’s infrastructure build-out keeps a steady pull on windows, facades, roofing systems and transport applications. At the same time, aluminium smelting is brutally power-intensive. A shift in coal prices or electricity tariffs can move the economics fast, which is one reason LME aluminium stays sensitive to energy news.

China still dominates the global supply picture, producing around 60% of the world’s primary aluminium. So a jump in Chinese smelter output can cool prices; tighter power controls or supply cuts can do the opposite. Indian scrap buyers may not discuss it on the yard floor in those words, but the impact shows up in the aluminium bhav soon enough.

Import policy also feeds into the landed cost of metal. Roughly speaking, applicable import duty layers such as around 7.5% basic customs duty, followed by GST in the domestic chain, shape the replacement value of primary metal. That replacement value influences how much secondary users are willing to pay for scrap. The linkage is indirect, but it is real.

What to watch next if you track scrap aluminium price per kg regularly

Aluminium is a cyclical industrial commodity. It rises when manufacturing, construction, transport and packaging demand look healthy. It cools when industrial activity slows, inventory builds up or Chinese supply comes back faster than expected. Scrap moves with that cycle, but it also has its own local personality. Festival-season beverage and food packaging demand can tighten certain scrap streams. Monsoon months often slow construction activity and transport movement in parts of India. Then the market resets.

If you buy for a recycling unit or sell bulk scrap lots, watching only the yard quote is not enough. Start with MCX aluminium futures for domestic price discovery. Then check LME aluminium for the global tone. After that, look at the rupee. A weaker INR can lift the domestic aluminium rate even if the overseas dollar price has barely moved. For Indian traders, that currency effect is not a side note. It is often the difference between a flat day and a sharp move.

There is another practical angle. Domestic producers such as Hindalco and Vedanta influence sentiment because India now has meaningful aluminium smelting capacity of its own, even though the market still responds to import parity logic. If domestic supply is comfortable and secondary smelters are well stocked, scrap discounts can widen. If clean scrap is hard to source, the spread against primary aluminium can narrow quickly. That usually happens in pockets, not evenly across the country.

Retail investors sometimes land on pages like this looking for a simple investment route. Aluminium does not have the retail wrappers that gold enjoys in India. No sovereign bond equivalent. No mainstream digital-metal pitch built around it. The serious route is still commodity participation through MCX aluminium futures or through broader investment products with industrial and metals exposure. Fabricators and stockists, of course, treat it differently. For them, aluminium futures are not an investment story first; they are a pricing and hedging tool.

Over a longer horizon, the more useful question is not whether aluminium will move day to day. It will. The real question is where the margin sits between primary metal and recyclable feed. That spread decides procurement strategy. Buy too early and you lock expensive stock. Wait too long and a global rally led by LME aluminium can lift local rates before your next purchase cycle. That is why a simple live reference, updated daily, helps more than most people think.

So if you are checking scrap metal prices aluminium per kg for business decisions, watch three things together: the exchange-linked aluminium spot price, the discount for your specific scrap grade, and local buying appetite from secondary smelters. Taken separately, each number tells only part of the story. Put them together and the market starts to make sense.