European and US copper companies have accelerated investment in recycled raw materials. The participants now include not only integrated smelters such as Aurubis, Boliden and Glencore, but also cable and copper semis producers such as Nexans and Wieland.
Copper scrap is therefore becoming more than a supplement to primary copper. It is increasingly viewed as a strategic resource that can improve raw material security, diversify earnings and reduce product carbon footprints.
Two Expansion Routes Are Emerging
The first route involves integrated smelters expanding their ability to process complex recycling materials.
Aurubis reported that operating earnings before taxes from its Multimetal Recycling segment increased from €36 million to €87 million during the first nine months of fiscal year 2025/26. Its Complex Recycling Hamburg project, commissioned in July 2026, can process more than 30,000 mt of additional complex materials annually. Aurubis Richmond in the US is designed to process approximately 180,000 mt per year once fully ramped up, although the ramp-up period has been extended by around six months.
Similar capabilities already exist elsewhere. Boliden’s Rönnskär smelter in Sweden has an annual electronic material recycling capacity of 120,000 mt. Glencore’s Horne smelter in Canada can process copper concentrates, electronic scrap and precious-metal-bearing materials. Its stated capacity of 840,000 mt per year refers to total copper- and precious-metal-bearing feedstock rather than copper scrap alone.
The second route involves cable and copper semis producers extending upstream into recycling and secondary refining.
Nexans is investing more than €90 million in a continuous casting and recycling facility in Lens, France. From 2027, the project will provide up to 80,000 mt per year of copper scrap recycling capacity, mainly supporting wire rod production.
Wieland is also developing recycling and refining centres in the US and Germany. The investments are expected to increase its annual recycling capacity by around 180,000 mt. The average recycled content of Wieland’s products reached 82.4% in fiscal year 2024/25, with a target of more than 90% by 2030.
Why Are Companies Investing Now?
The recent investment wave is being driven by tight primary copper supply, raw material security concerns, stronger recycling economics and supportive government policies.
First, tight copper concentrate supply is encouraging smelters to diversify their feedstock and reduce their dependence on concentrate treatment charges. Aurubis reported that the contribution of treatment and refining charges to the gross margin of its Custom Smelting & Products segment declined from 19% to 12%, while copper concentrate spot TC/RCs remained negative.
Recycled materials cannot fully replace concentrates, but they broaden the range of available feedstock and provide additional earnings from copper, gold, silver and other recovered metals. Elevated metal prices have also increased the potential value of complex copper-bearing materials.
Second, copper semis and cable producers are seeking greater control over high-grade raw materials. Closed-loop recycling allows companies to recover production scrap, end-of-life cables and customer returns before converting them back into wire rod, ingots or billets. This can reduce dependence on externally purchased cathodes and lower exposure to changes in physical premiums, logistics costs and availability.
Customers in the power grid, automotive, data centre and construction sectors are also placing greater emphasis on recycled content and product carbon footprints. In-house recycling capability is therefore becoming both a raw material advantage and a way to meet customer certification and low-carbon product requirements.
Third, Europe and the US have elevated copper supply security to a strategic level. The EU has classified copper as a critical and strategic raw material and aims for at least 25% of its annual strategic raw material consumption to come from recycling within the EU by 2030.
The US formally added copper to the US Geological Survey’s List of Critical Minerals in 2025. The US government has also described copper as essential to national security and industrial resilience, while including copper concentrates, refined copper, copper scrap and derivative products in its copper supply-chain review.
As a result, local recycling investment is no longer driven only by decarbonisation. It is also intended to reduce dependence on external raw materials and overseas processing capacity.
Which Types of Scrap Will Face Greater Competition?
Announced processing capacities should not simply be added together and treated as an equivalent increase in copper scrap demand.
Aurubis, Boliden and Glencore mainly specialise in electronic scrap, circuit boards, industrial residues, anode slimes, shredder materials and other complex multimetal feedstocks. Their earnings are derived from the recovery of copper, precious metals and other by-products.
Nexans and Wieland generally require cleaner feedstock suitable for producing wire rod, ingots or billets. Their potential purchasing range is therefore closer to Millberry and certain grades of No. 1 copper scrap, giving these projects a more direct impact on high-grade scrap trade flows.
The two groups may compete for some of the same materials, but their priorities differ. Rising local demand could divert both high-grade copper scrap and complex materials with high recoverable metal value away from export markets.
Outlook
In the short term, new recycling capacity is unlikely to cause a sharp decline in European or US copper scrap exports. Complex projects require time for equipment commissioning, feed-mix optimisation and supplier qualification, while nameplate processing capacity does not equal actual metal output.
Over the medium term, however, the ramp-up of Aurubis Richmond and Nexans Lens, combined with the expansion of closed-loop procurement by companies such as Wieland, could increase competition between local consumers and Asian importers.
High-grade copper scrap may receive stronger support from copper semis producers, while electronic scrap, circuit boards and multimetal residues could increasingly flow towards integrated smelters.
For Asian copper companies, the key issue will therefore be not only the total volume of European and US scrap exports, but also whether the proportion of high-grade and furnace-ready material available in the international spot market continues to decline.
