Old Copper Price Per Kg Today, 23 October 2026: Tamba Scrap Seller’s Guide

Old copper price per kg today is ₹616 in Delhi for mixed copper scrap, while clean copper windings fetch ₹1,269 per kg at the Delhi trader reference — bare bright wire sits at the very top of the grade ladder (23 October 2026). What you actually get depends on grade: dealers pay for the copper they can recover, not the weight on your scale. Check the full copper scrap rate table and today’s live rates for all 8 metals.

Old Copper Price Per Kg: Today’s Grade-Wise Rates

Grade	What it looks like	Delhi reference today
Bare bright wire	Clean, uncoated copper wire, no tarnish	Top grade — above armature
Armature / motor windings	Copper coils from motors and transformers	₹1,269/kg (trader reference)
Copper pipe & tube (#1)	Clean plumbing pipe, AC tubes, busbar	Below bright, above mixed
Mixed copper scrap	Ungraded lot — pipes, bits, fittings	₹616/kg (kabadi rate)
Insulated wire	Wire with the plastic coating still on	Steep discount — insulation weight plus stripping cost

The ladder runs from exchange to yard. MCX copper closed at ₹1,364 per kg on 22 October. Clean winding at ₹1,269 is about 93% of that; mixed scrap at ₹616 is roughly 45% — the dealer’s share covers sorting, transport, melting loss and margin. The same chain sets our daily copper scrap rates.

How Dealers Price Your Old Copper

Three things decide the old copper price per kg you actually get.

1. Grade first, weight second. A kilo of mixed copper and a kilo of clean winding look the same on a scale and pay very differently. Dealers sort visually: bright wire, pipe, winding, and everything else. Hand over one mixed bag and they price the whole bag at the lowest grade in it.

2. Contamination gets docked. Paint, solder, steel screws, oil and plastic insulation all cut recovery. Insulated wire is the classic trap — the plastic can be a third of the weight, and the dealer either strips it or docks you for it. Stripping insulation yourself is the single easiest way to move your wire from the bottom row of the table to the top.

3. The scale and the day’s anchor. Weighing happens on the dealer’s digital scale — watch the tare. And the anchor moves every session: LME copper fell about 1.8% overnight to a five-week low as exchange warehouse stocks jumped to their highest since late July (SMM, 23 October), while a possible strike at Teck’s Highland Valley copper mine in Canada — the union can walk out from 24 October — keeps supply risk alive (Reuters, 21 October). Check the rate on the day you sell, not the day you decided to sell. The overnight fall is detailed in ScrapMonster’s 22 October market round-up.

Old Copper Price Per Kg for Insulated Wire: Why It Pays Less

Insulated copper wire is not copper by weight — it is copper plus plastic. A dealer buying insulated wire is buying a stripping job: labour, and copper recovery of only 60–70% of the gross weight. That is why the same wire fetches far more once you strip it. A basic wire stripper pays for itself after a few kilos, as covered in our magnet test guide on sorting scrap.

5 Checks Before You Sell Old Copper

• Strip the insulation. Bare wire is top grade; insulated wire is bottom. Never sell them mixed.
• Separate winding from pipe. Motor and transformer windings (armature grade) price near ₹1,269; pipe and fittings sit lower.
• Pull out steel and brass. A magnet pulls steel in seconds; brass looks like copper (brass) but pays less — our scrap metal grades guide shows the visual difference.
• Watch the scale. Tare the empty bag, insist on a digital scale, and re-weigh anything that feels off.
• Sell on a strong day. Copper follows MCX and LME every session. Our daily rates page updates every morning — a 1–2% move is ₹6–12 per kg on mixed copper.

FAQs

What is the old copper price per kg today?

Old copper price per kg today is ₹616 in Delhi for mixed copper scrap (23 October 2026). Clean copper windings fetch up to ₹1,269 per kg, and bare bright wire prices above that. Rates move daily with MCX and LME copper.

Why is the kabadi rate half the MCX copper price?

MCX quotes 99%+ pure copper at ₹1,364 per kg. Your scrap needs sorting, transport and melting — a few percent is lost as dross — and every hand in the chain takes a margin. Mixed copper at ₹616, about 45% of MCX, is the normal retail share for an ungraded lot.

Should I sell old copper now or wait?

Copper sits near a five-week low on the LME after a 1.8% overnight fall, while a Canadian mine strike notice keeps supply risk alive. If you need the cash, sell — timing the exact bottom is a gamble. If you can wait, watch the daily rates for a bounce.

See today’s live copper rate and all 8 metals across 15 Indian cities on our daily rates page.