THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The forgotten nilavilakku, uruli, chembu kudam and other metal utensils in your attic could now be worth a fortune, thanks to American President Donald Trump. Fears over a possible new tax on copper imports to the United States, coupled with a supply crunch, have pushed up copper, brass and bronze prices across the world.
In Keralam, the concurrent scrap prices of these metals were up 40-45% in just eight months. This is the sharpest rise in at least five years, official data show.
The price of copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME), the main benchmark, touched $14,700 a tonne this month. It crossed $12,000 for the first time last December.
In Keralam, scrap copper price, the average across districts, rose from `720/kg in November 2025 to `1,010 by July, 2026. The prices of brass and bronze, both with high copper content, too, have risen sharply. The price of brass rose from `477 a kg to `672 a kg and bronze from `475 a kg to `687 a kg during the period.
An analysis of the annual ‘Price Statistics’ reports of the economics and statistics department shows that scrap copper price has more than doubled in five years. In July 2021, it went for around `481/kg.
Between 2021 and 2025, copper prices grew steadily, by 6-17% annually. Market watchers attribute the rise to different factors, mostly the worry over a possible tariff hike on refined copper by the US next year.
“The proposal for a 15% import tariff on refined copper has forced US traders to stockpile the metal, resulting in shortages elsewhere. Along with copper, prices of the alloys brass and bronze, too, have gone up.
Other reasons include growing demand from the electric vehicle and artificial intelligence industries, China’s export curbs and a supply crunch due to mining sector interruptions,” Prof C Veeramani, director of the Centre for Development Studies, pointed out.
Scrap aluminium prices rose by 21% in 8 months
“As copper is not a perishable commodity, traders in India too might be stocking it, expecting a further rise in the price. The uncertainty in cargo shipping due to geopolitical conflicts may also be playing a role,” he said.
In the eight months since December, scrap aluminium prices have also gained around 21%. Iron and steel have barely moved, rising just about 5%.
“Iron and steel prices are not seeing a big rise due to the Union government’s restrictions, including export curbs. The government’s intervention is to facilitate robust infrastructure growth,” said Murugan Thevar, state working president of the Kerala Scrap Merchants Association.