Silver Scrap Drops Nearly 7% as Gold and Platinum Also Weaken

North American precious metal scrap benchmarks moved lower during the September 25–October 1 period, with silver posting the largest losses. Hallmarked silver fell 6.84% and non-hallmarked silver declined 6.85%, while gold weakened across all major purity grades and platinum scrap fell 3.05%.

By Paul Ploumis
Published October 2, 2026
Reporting period: September 25–October 1, 2026

MONTREAL (Scrap Monster): North American precious metal scrap markets finished the September 25–October 1 reporting period broadly lower, with silver showing the most pronounced weakness.

Both hallmarked and non-hallmarked gold scrap declined across the major purity grades tracked by the ScrapMonster Price Index. Platinum also moved lower, while silver recorded substantially larger percentage losses than the other precious metals.

The movement broadly tracked weakness in international bullion markets, where higher U.S. Treasury yields, a firmer dollar and changing expectations for Federal Reserve policy pressured non-yielding precious metals during the week.

Precious Metals Benchmark Check

Hallmarked Precious Metals

Hallmarked Gold Scrap Prices

Hallmarked gold scrap weakened across every major purity grade during the reporting week as the international gold market remained volatile.

Gold sold off sharply early in the week before recovering part of the decline toward October 1. Over the full September 25–October 1 window, the international bullion benchmark remained lower.

The larger dollar decline in higher-purity grades reflects the greater amount of contained gold per ounce of scrap material. The overall direction was consistent across all four categories.

Hallmarked Silver Scrap

Hallmarked silver recorded the largest percentage decline among the precious-metal scrap categories tracked during the week.

The benchmark fell $3.36/oz, equivalent to a 6.84% weekly decline.

Chart

The scale of the scrap-market decline was directionally consistent with international silver, which also posted a considerably larger weekly loss than gold over the same period.

Hallmarked Platinum Scrap

Platinum scrap also weakened, falling $39.37/oz, or 3.05%, from the previous week's benchmark.

The decline closely tracked international platinum, which lost roughly 3.2% between September 25 and October 1.

The latest World Platinum Investment Council outlook forecasts a 265,000-ounce market surplus for 2026, a reversal from earlier deficit forecasts. The shift largely reflects investment outflows, while above-ground inventories remain constrained after three consecutive years of substantial deficits.

Non-Hallmarked Precious Metals

Non-Hallmarked Gold Scrap Prices

Non-hallmarked gold followed the same broad direction as hallmarked material, with every major purity category recording a week-on-week decline.

9-Carat Gold Chart

Non-Hallmarked Silver Scrap

Non-hallmarked silver scrap declined $3.23/oz, or 6.85%, essentially matching the percentage decline in the hallmarked silver market.

The magnitude of the drop was consistent with a week of heavy pressure in the international silver market, where elevated Treasury yields, a firmer dollar and changing U.S. rate expectations weighed on precious metals.

Non-Hallmarked Platinum Scrap

Non-hallmarked platinum scrap fell $39.37/oz, or 3.05%, matching the weekly percentage move in hallmarked platinum.

Platinum's underlying market remains complex. The latest WPIC forecast points to a modest 2026 surplus driven mainly by investment outflows, while industrial demand is expected to grow and above-ground stocks remain low by historical standards.

Market Drivers

• Higher Treasury yields: Rising U.S. yields increased the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding precious metals and remained one of the strongest macro headwinds during the week.
• U.S. dollar strength: A firmer dollar added pressure because dollar-denominated metals become more expensive for buyers using other currencies.
• Federal Reserve expectations: Changing expectations around further U.S. rate increases produced substantial price volatility across gold, silver and platinum.
• Silver volatility: Silver's combination of investment and industrial demand contributed to a larger weekly move than gold.
• Platinum investment flows: The WPIC now expects 2026 investment outflows to help push the market into a modest surplus, although physical inventories remain tight.

Market Read

The September 25–October 1 reporting period produced a broad decline across North American precious-metal scrap, but the magnitude differed sharply by metal.

Silver was the week's clear underperformer. Hallmarked and non-hallmarked benchmarks both fell by roughly 6.8%, considerably more than the declines recorded in gold or platinum.

Gold weakness was consistent across all purity grades. Higher-purity material posted the largest absolute dollar moves because it contains more fine gold, while the direction remained the same across 9-, 14-, 18- and 22-carat material.

Platinum declined by 3.05% in both hallmarked and non-hallmarked categories, closely matching the roughly 3.2% decline in the international platinum benchmark over the reporting window.

The overall pattern suggests that the week's scrap-market weakness was not isolated to local secondary-material conditions. It broadly reflected the decline in international precious-metal benchmarks, although scrap inflows, local buying conditions and refinery spreads can affect the magnitude of individual ScrapMonster benchmark moves.

Benchmark buying-price move • Exact live ScrapMonster precious-metal price levels are available to Premium members. Local buyer quotes vary by purity, assay, form and location.