Scrap Week Ahead: Index Thursday
Market notes · Published
This is the scrap week ahead for October 12 to 16, 2026: the days when new price numbers, diesel numbers and rate news arrive, and what each one means for a hauler. It is a calendar and not a forecast, so every line names its source and its date.
In the scrap week ahead the holiday matters, because Columbus Day moves two fuel reports by a day, and Thursday brings the first official scrap index numbers since the ones we read on October 8.
The scrap week ahead at a glance
Four dated stretches make up the week, and the card below puts them on one page.
The card shows the week in four lines. Thursday is the one to circle in the scrap week ahead, because the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes its producer price index that morning, and the index holds the three official scrap series we follow.
Here is the same week in words, with the times in Eastern Time as each agency lists them:
- Monday, October 12: Columbus Day, a federal holiday. The fuel reports shift by a day.
- Wednesday, October 14: the Energy Information Administration's diesel update, the consumer price index at 8:30 a.m., and the Federal Reserve's Beige Book.
- Thursday, October 15: the producer price index for September at 8:30 a.m., and the weekly petroleum report at 12:00 p.m.
- Friday, October 16: import and export prices for September at 8:30 a.m.
Nothing on this list sets the price your yard pays. A yard posts its own price for each grade. The list tells you which day new facts arrive.
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Monday, October 12: Columbus Day moves the fuel reports
Columbus Day opens the scrap week ahead as a federal holiday, so government offices are closed and the schedule of their reports bends around it. The Energy Information Administration normally publishes Monday's retail diesel price on Tuesday morning. This week its diesel page lists the next update for Wednesday, October 14, and its weekly petroleum schedule moves the petroleum status report from Wednesday to Thursday, October 15, at 12:00 p.m.
If you plan routes around the Tuesday diesel number, there is no Tuesday number this week.
Scrap tip: Call ahead on any federal holiday and ask two things: are the scale and the gate open, and what is the posted price for your grade. Write down the time you called and the name of whoever answered, so the quote means something later.
Wednesday, October 14: diesel, consumer prices and the Beige Book
Wednesday has three releases in the scrap week ahead, and the first one is the one most haulers feel directly.
Diesel: the first reading after the Treasury license
The last number on the books is from October 5. The Energy Information Administration put U.S. on-highway diesel at $6.199 a gallon that day, down 18.3 cents from $6.382 on September 28. The Central Atlantic region, which includes New York, read $6.485. Those are the official weekly retail diesel prices.
On Wednesday the report carries the retail price as of Monday, October 12, which makes it the first official reading after October 9, when the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License 135. The license authorizes the sale, delivery, offloading and importation of diesel fuel of Russian origin through April 7, 2027, per OFAC. Trump posted figures for how much would follow: more than 300,000 tons right away, 500,000 in November and 1,000,000 after that. Those figures are his, and we could not confirm the tonnage from another source.
Here is the part to keep straight. No report we read gave a date for when pump prices would move, so one week of diesel numbers cannot confirm or deny the story. Our October 7 news post has the background on diesel, rates and the copper rules, and the numbers on Wednesday are the next dated fact.
What a trip costs at this price
Here is an example, not a quote. A 40-mile round trip at 12 miles per gallon burns about 3.3 gallons, which is about $21 at $6.199. If the Wednesday number is 20 cents lower, that same trip costs about 67 cents less. Fuel is real money over a month of trips, and it is still small against the difference between two grades on one pile.
Related reading: The cost of a haul is the fuel price times the miles, and the farther yard only wins when its price covers the extra miles. When a farther yard still pays at this diesel price works through the numbers, so Wednesday's reading has somewhere to go.
Consumer prices and the Beige Book
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the consumer price index for September at 8:30 a.m. on its release schedule. It measures what households pay, and the Federal Reserve watches it when it decides on interest rates. The Fed's next meeting is October 27 and 28, per its meeting calendar, so this number lands two weeks before that decision.
We read it as context only. It does not move a scrap price by itself. It matters to a hauler indirectly: interest rates change what a truck loan costs and how much building gets done, which is where scrap comes from.
The Fed also publishes its Beige Book on October 14. It is a collection of notes from each of the twelve Federal Reserve districts, New York among them, on how local business is going. We will read the New York district for construction and manufacturing, where a hauler's pile starts.
Thursday, October 15: the scrap indexes arrive
Thursday is the biggest day of the scrap week ahead. At 8:30 a.m. the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the September producer price index, per its producer price index page. Inside it are the three official scrap series: copper-base scrap, aluminum base scrap, and iron and steel scrap.
What the three indexes said last time
These are the July and August readings. The Bureau marks both preliminary because they can be revised for up to four months.
| Scrap series | July 2026 (preliminary) | August 2026 (preliminary) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copper-base scrap | 953.688 | 993.347 | up about 4.2 percent |
| Aluminum base scrap | 469.848 | 475.545 | up about 1.2 percent |
| Iron and steel scrap | 589.583 | 580.548 | down about 1.5 percent |
Our October 8 Metals to Watch post read copper as firm, aluminum as mixed leaning firm and steel as mixed from those numbers and dated news, and it wrote down a test for Thursday: copper should hold or rise, aluminum should rise, and steel should move less than 1 percent either way. If a metal does the opposite, we will say the call was wrong.
What would count as a surprise
Two things are worth watching beyond the direction. The first is the size of any revision to August, because a preliminary number that moves a lot tells you the market was less settled than it looked. The second is whether steel and the other two agree, since in August they pointed different ways.
Remember what the index is: what producers are paid, a month or more behind the market, and not what a yard posts. Here is an example. On a 150-pound pile of copper at $4.00 a pound, one percent is $6, so even a 4 percent move is about $24, which is less than a sorting mistake on the same pile can cost.
Scrap tip: On Thursday, copy the three index numbers into your notebook with the date. A year from now you will have a series of your own, and you will see which headline weeks actually showed up on the board and which did not.
The Energy Information Administration's weekly petroleum status report follows at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday instead of its usual Wednesday slot. It reports crude and distillate stocks, and diesel is a distillate, so it is the next read on whether diesel supply is tightening or easing.
Friday, October 16: import and export prices
The Bureau of Labor Statistics closes the scrap week ahead at 8:30 a.m. with the September import and export price indexes, per its import and export price page. The program measures price changes for non-military goods and services traded between the United States and the rest of the world.
We will be plain about how far this one reaches. The Bureau's page lists broad groups such as fuels and non-agricultural goods, and it does not publish a scrap grade price. So we read it as background on dollar-priced trade, which matters to scrap because copper, aluminum and steel all trade across borders.
Related reading: A week of dates is easier to use when you know which headline is about your pile and which is not. Why steel prices in the news can rise while scrap steel does not explains the gap between the two markets, which is the first thing to check before a Thursday number changes how you feel about a pile.
Beyond this week
The calendar does not stop when the scrap week ahead ends on Friday. The Recycled Materials Association holds its Fall Meeting from October 20 to 22, per its events page. The Federal Reserve meets October 27 and 28. The Energy Information Administration's monthly outlook is due November 10, and the October producer price index follows on November 13.
What to do with the scrap week ahead
Start with the plain parts. Sort by grade before you leave, because yards post a price for each grade and a mixed pile is often paid at the lowest grade in it. Use the scrap rates page to see posted prices by ZIP code, and Scraplift ranks yards near you after fuel costs, so the diesel number on Wednesday is already counted. Our Scrap Tips post lists the five lines worth keeping on every quote.
Scrap tip: Pick one weekday and check the board for your three biggest grades on that day every week, then write the number and the date in the same notebook. A line a week beats any single headline, because it shows how your own yard actually moves.
Match the days to the jobs. Monday is for calling ahead and sorting. Wednesday is for working out the trip cost at the new diesel number. Thursday is for writing down the index. Friday is background and not a reason to change a pile.
This is general market commentary, not financial advice and not a promise. Your yard's own posted price for your grade is what you are paid. Check the date and the grade on any quote before you agree to it.
Quick answers
What is happening in the scrap week ahead?
The week of October 12 to 16, 2026 has the Columbus Day holiday on Monday, diesel and consumer prices on Wednesday, the producer price index with the scrap series on Thursday, and import and export prices on Friday.
When do the September scrap indexes come out?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the September producer price index on Thursday, October 15, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The scrap series are inside it.
Why is there no Tuesday diesel number this week?
Columbus Day falls on Monday, October 12, so the Energy Information Administration moves its retail diesel update to Wednesday, October 14.
What was the last official diesel price?
The Energy Information Administration put U.S. diesel at $6.199 a gallon on October 5, 2026, down 18.3 cents from $6.382 the week before.