Inconel scrap trades in a wide band. Clean, sorted, single-grade solids realistically bring $2.00–$6.50 per pound in the US, and certified aerospace bundles with an assay reach $3.50–$8.00. Mixed and contaminated material drops to $0.25–$1.50 per pound. Advertised dealer ceilings of $8–$18 per pound exist for 625 and 718, but those are quotes for large certified lots, not what a walk-in gets. LME nickel was $16,879 per tonne — about $7.66 per pound — on 20 August 2026, and that number sets the ceiling for everything below.
| Grade / Item | Low | High | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mixed / contaminated | $0.25 | $1.50 | USD/lb |
| Clean segregated, no certs | $1.50 | $4.00 | USD/lb |
| Clean solids, identified grade | $3.00 | $6.50 | USD/lb |
| Certified assayed bundles | $3.50 | $8.00 | USD/lb |
| 625 advertised dealer range | $8.00 | $14.00 | USD/lb |
| 718 advertised dealer range | $10.00 | $18.00 | USD/lb |
| Country | Typical Range | Per Tonne | Cur. |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $2.00 – $8.00 /lb | $4,400 – $17,600 | USD |
| Germany / EU | €4.00 – €15.00 /kg | €4,000 – €15,000 | EUR |
| China (export ask) | $5.50 – $6.35 /lb | $12,100 – $14,000 | USD |
| India | ₹380 – ₹1,450 /kg | ₹380,000 – ₹1,450,000 | INR |
Published Inconel scrap prices, and why they conflict
Inconel is the worst-documented common alloy in scrap. Published prices differ by a factor of ten. Here is the full spread, unaveraged.
| Source | Date | What it quotes | Price (USD/lb) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ScrapMetalBuyers, current-prices page | 20 Aug 2026 | 625 / 718 / 600 / 601 | $8–14 / $10–18 / $7–12 / $6–10 |
| ScrapMetalBuyers, Inconel page | 2026 | 600 / 601 / 706 / 713 / 718 / 625 | $6.50 / $6.00 / $7.00 / $7.50 / $7.80 / $8.50 |
| Bhansali Exports | Mar 2025, rev. Dec 2025 | 600 / 625 / 718 / 825 | $6–12 / $8–15 / $7–14 / $6–11 |
| Alloy Ronsco | 19 Mar 2026 | 718 clean solids / clean turnings / mixed | $3.00–6.50+ / $2.00–5.00 / $0.25–1.25 |
| MWalloys | Aug 2025 | Mixed / clean segregated / certified bundles | $0.50–1.50 / $1.50–4.00 / $3.50–6.00+ |
| Southerly Alloy | 2026 outlook | 625 scrap / 718 scrap | $3.00–3.60 / $2.10–2.60 |
| iScrap App | stale — last updated 2025 | Inconel, generic | $0.50 |
Note that the two ScrapMetalBuyers pages are the same company quoting itself differently in the same year — $10–18 for 718 on one page and $7.80 on another. That is not an error you should try to resolve. It tells you what the market is: an advertised buying range wide enough to cover a certified 20,000 lb aerospace lot at the top and a barrel of oily chips at the bottom.
Ignore the iScrap figure of $0.50/lb. It has not been updated in about a year and it is a placeholder, not a market price. No serious buyer pays fifty cents for identified Inconel.
The honest working range
Strip out the advertising ceilings and the stale placeholder, and the sources that describe actual transactions converge on this:
- Unsorted, mixed, contaminated: $0.25–$1.50/lb
- Clean, segregated, single grade, no certs: $1.50–$4.00/lb
- Clean solids, identified grade, decent volume: $3.00–$6.50/lb
- Certified, dried, assayed, tramp-free bundles: $3.50–$8.00/lb
MWalloys put US pricing at roughly $2.00–$8.00/lb overall in August 2025; Alloy Ronsco put US recyclers at $2.00–$6.00/lb in March 2026 with Chinese exporters asking $5.50–$6.35/lb. Those two independent assessments agree closely. That is your reality check.
Grade by grade
Inconel value tracks nickel content first, then molybdenum and niobium. Here is what each grade contains and what the contained nickel alone is worth at 20 August 2026 pricing of $7.66/lb.
| Grade | Nickel content | Other value metals | Contained Ni value at $7.66/lb | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inconel 600 | 72% min | 14–17% Cr | $5.52/lb | Furnace parts, heat exchangers, nuclear |
| Inconel 601 | 58–63% | 21–25% Cr, 1–1.7% Al | $4.44–$4.83/lb | Radiant tubes, combustion hardware |
| Inconel 625 | 58% min | 8–10% Mo, 3.15–4.15% Nb, 20–23% Cr | $4.44/lb | Marine, chemical, exhaust, bellows |
| Inconel 718 | 50–55% | 4.75–5.5% Nb, 2.8–3.3% Mo, bal Fe | $3.83–$4.21/lb | Turbine discs, aerospace fasteners |
| Inconel X-750 | 70% min | 2.25–2.75% Ti, 14–17% Cr | $5.36/lb | Springs, turbine seals, bolting |
| Inconel 825 | 38–46% | 2.5–3.5% Mo, 1.5–3% Cu | $2.91–$3.52/lb | Acid service, pickling equipment |
Contained value is a ceiling, not an offer. A buyer pays a percentage of it — commonly 50–75% for clean sorted material — because they carry melting losses, assay costs, freight, and the risk that your lot is not what you say it is. If someone offers you $1.20/lb on identified 600 solids, the contained nickel alone is worth $5.52 and you should walk.
Two things the table understates. Inconel 718 has the lowest nickel content of the common grades but often prices at or above 625 because niobium is expensive and 718 is the aerospace workhorse with the deepest certified market. And 625 carries 8–10% molybdenum, which is worth real money on its own — do not price 625 off nickel alone.
Solids versus turnings
Form is worth as much as grade. Solids melt directly with high recovery. Turnings oxidize, carry cutting fluid, and lose mass in the furnace.
| Form | Description | Price (USD/lb) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clean shredded / segregated swarf | 718 turnings, sorted, degreased | $2.00–$5.50 | MWalloys, Aug 2025 |
| Clean turnings | 718, dried | $2.00–$5.00 | Alloy Ronsco, Mar 2026 |
| Wrought heavy solids | Forgings, plate, bar | $1.50–$4.50 | MWalloys, Aug 2025 |
| Clean solid scrap | 718, identified | $3.00–$6.50+ | Alloy Ronsco, Mar 2026 |
| Castings with scale or coating | Investment castings, oxidized | $0.75–$2.25 | MWalloys, Aug 2025 |
| Small mixed pieces, unsegregated | Shop sweepings, mixed alloys | $0.25–$1.25 | MWalloys and Alloy Ronsco |
Wet turnings are the biggest single value destroyer. Coolant and oil add weight the buyer will not pay for and add processing cost they will deduct. If you generate machining swarf, centrifuge or dry it. That step alone can move a barrel from the bottom band to the middle one.
How buyers build an offer
MWalloys published the mechanic behind the number, and it matches how nickel-alloy traders actually quote:
Offer per pound ≈ alloy surcharge per pound × purity factor × form factor − (assay + handling) per pound
Purity factor runs 1.0 for clean material and 0.6–0.85 for contaminated. Form factor runs roughly 0.9–1.3 depending on whether you are selling chips or forgings. The alloy surcharge is indexed to nickel plus the other alloying elements — it is not raw LME nickel multiplied by weight. That is why two loads of 718 can price 60% apart.
Nickel is the engine
Every Inconel offer is indexed to nickel. As of 20 August 2026, LME nickel was $16,878.63 per tonne, or about $7.66 per pound — down 1.47% on the day and 1.29% on the month, but up 13.08% year over year. Trading Economics noted nickel around $16,750 in August, the lowest since early July, with expectations of improved Indonesian supply weighing on the market.
Practical read: nickel is up meaningfully year over year but soft on near-term momentum, and Indonesian supply is the dominant bearish factor. If you are sitting on a certified lot and watching the market, the year-over-year strength is on your side and the monthly drift is not. Nickel-alloy scrap bids lag LME moves by days to weeks because dealers price off surcharge schedules that reset periodically, not off the daily settlement.
Where to sell Inconel
Not a general scrap yard
A general yard will grade your Inconel as stainless or generic nickel alloy and pay $0.60–$1.50 per pound. On identified 625 solids that is a loss of four to five dollars a pound. General yards do this because they do not have an XRF gun, do not want liability for a misgraded lot, and resell to the same specialty processors you could call directly.
Specialty nickel alloy processors
These are the buyers who pay the numbers in this article. RRCarbide buys 600, 601, 617, 625, 690, 718, 725, X-750, C-276, and 792. ScrapMetalBuyers buys all forms including turnings and investment castings. MWalloys and Alloy Ronsco trade internationally. Okon Recycling handles nickel alloys out of Texas. All of them quote on grade, form, weight, and documentation rather than posting a walk-in rate.
What to have ready before you call
- Grade identification. Mill test reports, heat numbers, or an XRF reading. A positive material identification result is worth more than your word.
- Accurate weight and photos. Every buyer will ask.
- Segregation by grade and form. A mixed skid gets bid at the price of its worst component.
- Honest contamination disclosure. Tell them about the steel bolting, the coating, the coolant. They will find it, and a load that arrives different from its description gets re-graded on their scale, not yours.
- Volume. Under a few hundred pounds, freight and assay costs will eat the premium. Accumulate.
One legal note. Inconel from aerospace and defense work can carry export control obligations and traceability requirements from the originating contract. If your material came off a program with flow-down requirements, check before you sell — some scrap must be witnessed-destroyed rather than sold.
Sources disagree substantially on Inconel. Every conflicting figure is shown above rather than blended. Get two written quotes before you ship.