Shredded metal scrap (shred steel) costs $150 to $200 per ton at the mill level today, which translates to yard payouts of $0.04 to $0.10 per pound for the mixed light iron that feeds shredders. Shred is the base grade of the entire ferrous market: appliances, car bodies, sheet metal, and fencing all price against it. Mills buy shredded scrap as furnace feedstock, and the rate moves with steel demand, export markets, and regional freight costs.
| Grade / Item | Low | High | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shred / light iron (yard payout) | $0.04 | $0.10 | USD/lb |
| Shred steel per ton (mill) | $150 | $200 | USD/ton |
| #1 prepared steel (HMS) | $180 | $250 | USD/ton |
| Steel turnings | $90 | $112 | USD/ton |
| Country | Typical Range | Per Tonne | Cur. |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $0.04 – $0.10 /lb | $150 – $200 mill | USD |
| Canada | C$0.05 – C$0.14 /lb | C$190 – C$270 | CAD |
| United Kingdom | £0.06 – £0.16 /kg | £120 – £160 | GBP |
| Germany / EU | €0.07 – €0.19 /kg | €140 – €185 | EUR |
| Australia | A$0.10 – A$0.27 /kg | A$230 – A$310 | AUD |
| India | ₹24 – ₹33 /kg | ₹24,000 – ₹33,000 | INR |
Rates for every other metal grade are collected in the complete scrap metal price index.
What Shredded Metal Scrap Actually Is
Shred is what comes out the back of a mega-shredder: fist-sized chunks of mixed steel produced by hammering down cars, appliances, and light structural scrap. Magnets pull the ferrous fraction, eddy current separators kick out aluminum and copper, and the clean shredded steel ships to mills as premium furnace feed.
For sellers, “shred” is the price category your unsorted ferrous material lands in. Anything too thin, mixed, or contaminated to qualify for a cleaner grade (like plate and structural or #1 heavy melt) gets weighed in as shreddable steel at the base rate.
That makes the shred price the single most important number in everyday scrapping. It’s the floor under every appliance, car body, and mixed load you’ll ever sell.
What Drives the Shred Price
- Mill demand: Electric arc furnace mills consume shred as primary feedstock. Strong construction and manufacturing seasons pull the price up.
- Export markets: Turkey is the world’s largest scrap importer, and Turkish CFR prices ripple back into US East Coast and Gulf yard rates within weeks.
- Freight: Shred is heavy and cheap, so distance to the nearest mill or port meaningfully changes what your regional yards can pay.
- Auto shredder economics: Shredders profit from the non-ferrous they recover (Zorba aluminum, copper, and even electric motors). When those side streams pay well, shredders bid harder for feedstock.
Yard Payout vs Mill Price: Where the Gap Goes
The $150-$200/ton mill benchmark is the delivered price shredder operators receive. Your yard payout of $0.04-$0.10/lb ($80-$200/ton) sits below it because the yard covers handling, shredding, separation, and freight, then keeps a margin.
The practical takeaway: your leverage as a seller isn’t negotiating the shred rate, it’s keeping material out of the shred category. Every motor, stainless panel, brass fitting, and aluminum piece you pull from a load before the scale is metal you sell at 3-40x the shred rate instead of donating the difference to the yard’s separation line.
Common Mistakes That Shrink Shred Payouts
- Selling appliances whole without harvesting: A refrigerator at shred rates surrenders the $10-$25 compressor inside.
- Mixing prepared grades into shred: Thick plate and structural cut to size earns the P&S premium. Ask before dumping it in the light iron pile.
- Ignoring dirt and contamination: Concrete, wood, and trash in a load trigger deductions of 5-20% at many scales.
- Hauling half loads: At shred rates, weight is everything. Fill the trailer.
- Selling into a falling market: Shred prices move monthly with mill buy programs. A quick check of the trend before a big cleanout haul can be worth hundreds on multi-ton loads.
Getting the Best Price
Strip the high-value metals first, keep loads clean, consolidate weight, and call 2-3 yards for their current light iron rate plus any prepared-grade premiums. If you’re moving serious tonnage regularly, ask about direct shredder-feed pricing, which often beats retail yard rates.
Shred is the foundation of the scrap economy: unglamorous, low-rate, but endless in supply. Master the sorting game on top of it, from stainless to bare bright copper, and every ton of base metal hauls its premium passengers to the scale with it.
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