Your Brass and Aluminium Scrap Rates Are Sliding Before Diwali, Even as Global Metal Prices Hold. The Festive Lull Is the Reason.

India's scrap market has entered its yearly festive lull. Navratri ran through the first half of October, Dussehra fell on 20 October, and Diwali lands on 8 November 2026. In this stretch, foundries, die-casters, utensil makers and small auto-part units slow their buying, and that shows up fast in non-ferrous scrap rates.

The clearest reading in the week to 15 October 2026 is in brass and aluminium.

Market assessments for the week to 15 October put domestic brass scrap sharply lower. In Delhi, Purja scrap fell to about ₹846 a kg from ₹890 a kg a week earlier, and Honey scrap to about ₹884 a kg from ₹938 a kg. In Jamnagar, Vilayati scrap eased to roughly ₹860 to ₹865 a kg from ₹895 to ₹900, and Honey scrap to about ₹920 to ₹925 a kg from ₹940 to ₹945. Traders described ample scrap availability and limited buying, with intraday prices down about ₹3 a kg from the week before. (The per-kg figures are our own conversion of per-tonne assessments quoted at an indicative ₹95 to the US dollar.)

Aluminium told the same story. The benchmark secondary alloy, ADC 12 ingot, fell to about ₹299 a kg ex-works Mumbai from ₹305 a week earlier, down 1.97%, and to about ₹300 a kg in Delhi, down 1.48%. Imported aluminium scrap offers stayed firm abroad even as domestic buyers held back.

The numbers at a glance

(Per-kg figures are our own conversion of per-tonne market assessments at about ₹95 to the US dollar. "LME three-month" is the London Metal Exchange forward price, a global reference for the metal.)

Why the rate falls even when the metal doesn't

It is easy to assume your scrap rate simply tracks the global metal price. The week to 15 October 2026 shows why that is only half true.

Over the fortnight to mid-October, the London Metal Exchange three-month copper price rose by a little over 1%. Brass is mostly copper, so on the exchange alone, brass should have firmed. Instead, domestic brass scrap fell by ₹35 to ₹54 a kg. The gap is festive demand. With utensil and hardware units buying less before Diwali, and plenty of scrap already in the market, sellers had to cut to move material.

Aluminium ran the other way on the exchange but reached the same place at home. LME three-month aluminium fell 3.23% to $3,013.50 a tonne on 14 October, on a stronger US dollar, worries about China's demand and expectations of more supply. Domestic ADC 12 and aluminium scrap softened too, helped along by cheaper alloy imports from Malaysia competing in a price-sensitive market.

So two metals moved opposite ways globally, yet both lost ground at home. The common factor was not the exchange. It was the Indian buyer sitting on his hands until the festive season passes.

Steel scrap is the quiet exception

Not every scrap stream is sliding. Ferrous held firm.

Delivered to Mandi Gobindgarh, HMS 1 and 2 (80:20), the standard heavy melting scrap grade, was unchanged at about ₹37.8 a kg in the 15 October assessment. Sponge iron was flat at about ₹28.3 a kg ex-works Raipur, and rebar and billet barely moved, with Raipur rebar around ₹51,900 a tonne and Mumbai rebar around ₹53,700. Mandi ingot slipped only about ₹100 a tonne. Traders even expected Mandi rates to firm slightly by the end of the week.

The reason is structural. Steel scrap feeds induction furnaces that run on construction and infrastructure demand, which does not switch off for a festival the way consumer-goods manufacturing does. Non-ferrous scrap, by contrast, feeds utensils, fittings, die-cast auto parts and hardware, exactly the products whose factories ease off before Diwali.

For a dealer, that is a useful split to hold in mind. The festive softness is concentrated in brass, copper alloy and aluminium, not across the whole yard.

This is a timing problem, not a collapse

A week of lower non-ferrous rates during the festive lull is not the same as a falling market.

The pattern is seasonal and well known. Demand thins in the run-up to Diwali and usually returns once factories restart and the construction season picks up through winter. The scrap that is cheap to sell in the festive lull is the same scrap that can command more once buyers come back. Nothing in the 15 October data points to a structural fall in brass or aluminium; the drivers named by the market are festive demand, ample near-term availability and, for aluminium, a weaker global price and import competition.

That makes the next few weeks a judgement call rather than an emergency. If you can hold clean, sorted non-ferrous scrap through the lull, you are likely selling into a stronger market after Diwali. If you need the cash or the storage, selling now means accepting the festive discount with your eyes open.

What this means for you

Kabadiwalas and scrap collectors: The festive discount is mostly on brass, copper alloy and aluminium, not steel. If you can wait, hold clean brass and aluminium past Diwali rather than selling into the lull. Keep grades separated, Purja and Honey brass apart, aluminium apart from alloy, because the gap between a sorted rate and a mixed rate widens when buyers are choosy.

Aggregators and traders: Price domestic non-ferrous off local demand, not off the LME headline. In the week to 15 October, copper rose on the exchange while brass scrap fell at home, so a quote pegged to the global price would have been wrong in both directions. Watch the post-Diwali restart for the bounce, and treat cheap alloy imports as a cap on how far domestic aluminium can recover in the short term.

Recyclers and secondary smelters: The festive lull is a buying window. Brass and aluminium scrap is cheaper and more available in mid-October than it was in late September. If your furnace and working capital allow, building stock now is cheaper than chasing it when demand returns.

Steelmakers and ferrous dealers: Your market is the steadier one this festive season. HMS and sponge iron held through the festive week, so there is less reason to rush a sale at a discount. Watch whether Mandi rates firm after Dussehra as some traders expect.

What to watch

1. 20 October 2026 onwards: Whether non-ferrous rates stay soft through the back half of the festive season or stabilise before Diwali.
2. 8 November 2026, Diwali: The usual marker for a demand restart. Watch the first fortnight after for a brass and aluminium recovery.
3. LME aluminium: Whether it steadies near $3,000 a tonne or falls further, which will cap or support domestic aluminium scrap.
4. Aluminium alloy imports: Continued cheap offers from Malaysia and others would keep domestic ADC 12 and aluminium scrap under pressure even after the festive lull ends.
5. Steel scrap through winter: Whether ferrous firms with the construction season, widening the gap with non-ferrous.

The bottom line

This festive week's dip in brass and aluminium scrap is a demand story, not a market breakdown. The proof is that it happened even where the global metal rose, because your rate in mid-October is set by the Indian buyer, and the Indian buyer is waiting for Diwali on 8 November 2026. Steel scrap held because its demand did not pause. For anyone sitting on clean, sorted non-ferrous scrap with room to wait, the sensible read is patience, not panic.