Clean magnesium scrap is paying $0.30–$0.35 per pound at US yards, with a national average of $0.33/lb as of 20 August 2026. Dirty or heavily contaminated magnesium drops to roughly $0.04/lb. That clean number works out to about 28–31% of the landed value of 99.9% magnesium ingot, which ran $2,367–$2,559 per metric ton — $1.07–$1.16 per pound — through mid-2026.
| Grade / Item | Low | High | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clean magnesium scrap | $0.30 | $0.35 | USD/lb |
| Die cast, clean (AZ91D, AM60B) | $0.30 | $0.35 | USD/lb |
| Turnings / chips, dry | $0.10 | $0.25 | USD/lb |
| Dirty / contaminated | $0.04 | $0.10 | USD/lb |
| Country | Typical Range | Per Tonne | Cur. |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $0.30 – $0.35 /lb (clean) | $660 – $770 | USD |
| Germany / EU | €0.55 – €0.75 /kg | €550 – €750 | EUR |
| India | ₹55 – ₹70 /kg | ₹55,000 – ₹70,000 | INR |
Magnesium scrap price right now
Magnesium is a thin scrap market. Far fewer yards buy it than buy aluminum, and fewer still post a number. Below is every published US figure worth quoting.
| Material | Price (USD/lb) | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magnesium scrap, clean — national average | $0.33 | ScrapMonster yard survey | 20 Aug 2026 |
| Magnesium scrap, clean — yard range | $0.30–$0.35 | ScrapMonster yard survey | 20 Aug 2026 |
| Magnesium scrap, dirty | $0.04 | ScrapMonster yard survey | 19 Aug 2025 |
| Magnesium, single-yard quote | $0.23 | MetalRecap | 27 Aug 2025 |
| Magnesium scrap, clean — Canada | $0.20 | ScrapMonster (one yard) | 23 Feb 2022 |
Two warnings on that table. The dirty-magnesium figure is a year old and comes off a single reporting yard, so treat it as an order of magnitude and not a quote. The Canadian number is four years stale. Nobody publishes a live, multi-yard, per-grade magnesium index in the US the way they do for copper or aluminum. If a site shows you a magnesium price without a date on it, assume it is old.
Why magnesium pays less than you expect
Magnesium metal is worth more than aluminum. Magnesium scrap usually is not. Three reasons:
- Most yards cannot process it. Magnesium burns. A yard that shreds or torches will not touch loose magnesium, so your buyer pool is small and the bids reflect that.
- Alloy identity matters and nobody checks at the scale. AZ91D and AM60B are different products with different values, but a general yard weighs them the same and pays one flat rate.
- Half the recycled magnesium in the US goes into aluminum alloys, not back into magnesium castings. The US Geological Survey put aluminum-base alloys at roughly 53% of secondary magnesium recovered in 2025. When your scrap ends up as an alloying addition in an aluminum melt, it gets priced closer to an aluminum input than a magnesium one.
Grades and what separates them
A specialty magnesium recycler sorts on alloy family and form. A general yard sorts on clean versus dirty and nothing else. Knowing which grade you have tells you which buyer to call.
| Grade | Typical alloys | What it looks like | Where it sits on price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Die cast, clean | AZ91D, AM60B, AM50A | Housings, steering columns, seat frames, power tool bodies, laptop shells | Top of the clean range — $0.30–$0.35/lb at yards, more from a specialty buyer |
| Die cast, painted or with inserts | AZ91D, AM60B | Same parts with coatings, steel bushings, plastic clips still attached | Discounted hard; steel inserts get deducted by weight |
| Sheet and extrusion | AZ31, ZK60 | Plate offcuts, aerospace and print-industry sheet | Clean range, but low volume and few buyers |
| Turnings and chips, dry | AZ91D, AM60B | Machining swarf, no coolant | Well below solids — high surface area, oxidation losses |
| Turnings and chips, wet | Any | Swarf soaked in cutting fluid or oil | Lowest priced saleable form; some buyers charge to take it |
| Dross and skim | Mixed | Furnace skim, salt-contaminated residue | Near the $0.04/lb dirty figure, or a disposal cost |
Position on that table is a structural ranking, not a set of quotes. The only two US price points with dates attached are the clean average of $0.33/lb and the dirty figure of $0.04/lb. Everything else in the market falls between those two, and where your load lands depends entirely on who is bidding.
Reading a die casting
Magnesium is about a third lighter than aluminum for the same part. Pick up a housing that looks like an aluminum casting and feels wrong — too light — and it is probably magnesium. Older automotive parts, camera bodies, chainsaw housings, and laptop frames are common finds. AZ91D is the workhorse die-casting alloy at roughly 9% aluminum and 1% zinc. AM60B and AM50A trade some strength for ductility and show up in safety-critical automotive parts like instrument panel beams and seat structures.
What actually drives the price
Magnesium does not trade on the LME. There is no exchange contract setting a daily settlement the way there is for lead or nickel. The reference price is Chinese ingot, because China dominates world production, and the US benchmark is an import-parity number layered with duties.
| Benchmark | Price | Per pound | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mg ingot 99.9%, China EXW | $2,366.68/MT | $1.07 | ScrapMonster, 22 Jul 2026 |
| Mg ingot 99.9%, China FOB | $2,422.71/MT | $1.10 | ScrapMonster, 22 Jul 2026 |
| Mg ingot 99.9%, Rotterdam | $2,544.36/MT | $1.15 | ScrapMonster, 22 Jul 2026 |
| Magnesium, USA CIF | $2,558.67/MT | $1.16 | Procurement Resource, June 2026 |
| Magnesium, China FOB | $2,403.72/MT | $1.09 | Procurement Resource, June 2026 |
| Magnesium futures, China | 16,900 CNY/T | — | Trading Economics, 20 Aug 2026 |
| US spot price, 2025 annual average | — | $3.20 | USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Feb 2026 |
Note the gap in that last row. USGS reported the US spot price averaging $3.20 per pound in 2025, down from $3.52 in 2024, sitting at $3.13 from April through November. Imported ingot lands around $1.16. That spread is antidumping duty, not a market signal. Chinese and Russian magnesium carry duty orders that have been continued repeatedly, and US primary production stopped entirely in 2022. So do not calculate your scrap value off the $3.20 domestic spot number — your material competes against imported ingot and against secondary metal, not against duty-protected domestic supply.
The broader trend into late 2026 is flat to soft. Chinese magnesium was down 7.14% year over year as of 20 August 2026 and roughly flat on the month. Q1 2026 showed a modest lift — China up 4.86% quarter over quarter to $2,433/MT per IMARC — but Q2 gave most of that back, and Q3 forecasts run mildly bearish.
Where to sell magnesium scrap
General scrap yards
Call ahead. Many yards will not accept magnesium at all, and some that do will grade it as dirty aluminum and pay you $0.10–$0.15 per pound. If a yard weighs your load without asking what alloy it is, that is what is happening. For a few hundred pounds it may still be worth taking, because freight to a specialty buyer eats any premium on a small lot.
Specialty magnesium recyclers
For volume — a pallet or more, or steady machining swarf — go direct. MagReTech in Ohio buys scrap magnesium including chips and turnings, wet or dry. AMACOR is another US magnesium recycler. Allied Mag operates in Europe and quotes on grade and quantity rather than posting rates. Expect all of them to want the alloy identified, the material segregated by grade, and a photo before they quote.
Segregation is where the money is. A mixed skid of AZ91D castings, AM60B brackets, painted parts, and oily turnings gets bid at the price of the worst item in it. Break it into four piles and each pile gets bid on its own merits.
Fire risk — the part that hurts people
Magnesium is a Class D combustible metal. This is not a formality.
- Water makes it worse. Water on burning magnesium releases hydrogen and intensifies the fire. A standard hose line on a magnesium fire can produce a steam and hydrogen explosion.
- Chips and dust are the real danger, not solids. A solid casting is hard to ignite. Fine turnings and grinding dust are not. Magnesium dust carries a KST value of 508 and a Pmax of 17.5 bar — that puts it in the most explosive category of combustible dusts.
- Use Class D agents. Dry powder extinguishers with graphite or sodium chloride bases, or dry sand to smother. Keep them where the magnesium is, not across the yard.
- Never torch or grind magnesium near a scrap pile. Cutting a magnesium part with an oxy-fuel torch is how yard fires start.
- Store chips dry, covered, and away from steel scrap. Wet magnesium turnings generate hydrogen as they corrode. A sealed drum of oily wet chips is a bomb waiting on an ignition source.
The governing standards are NFPA 484, Standard for Combustible Metals, and NFPA 654 for combustible dust. OSHA works magnesium through its Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program. If you are handling magnesium swarf commercially, read NFPA 484 rather than taking anyone’s summary of it, including this one.
Where sources disagree, both numbers appear above. Prices move. Call two buyers before you load a truck.