Free resource · updated weekly

UK Material Price Tracker

What metal and plastic bar actually costs to buy in the UK: 16 grades in round, flat, square and hex bar, 72 grade-and-size combinations, per metre, ex VAT, read from 6 UK online stockists every week. Ø25 mm round bar has history back to Mar 2021 from archived copies of the same pages; every other size starts at its first weekly reading. Every number links to the page it came from.

16grades tracked
steels, stainless, aluminium, copper, brass, plastics
119price series read weekly
grade × size × stockist, 72 grade-size combinations
6UK online stockists
Buy Metal Online labelled retail
28like-for-like comparisons this week
same grade and size, 2+ stockists
383prices on record
since Mar 2021
1.9×widest spread between stockholders: 316 / 316L Ø25 mm round
£37.24 to £72.00 for the same bar
+169%biggest recorded rise: EN36B (655M13) Ø25 mm
£24.20 (Sep 2021) to £65.00 (Feb 2024)

Last read 5 Oct 2026: 118 of 119 stockist prices read (1 couldn't be read with certainty and is left out). Next reading due 12 Oct 2026. Follow price changes (Atom feed)

Each line is one grade's Ø25 mm round bar at the stockist with the longest record for it — the size with years of history. Other sizes are on each grade's page. Indexed trend sets every grade to 100 at the start of the range you pick, so you can compare how fast they moved; £ per metre compares what they cost. Hover for values; click to pin and open sources.

By family

Each family on its own scale, so the lines stay readable. These follow the range and the view (indexed or £ per metre) picked above.

What moved

This week's prices Ø25 mm round

Highest £/mHistory
Aluminium
6082-T6 £13.91
same since Jun 2026
£10.46 1 stockist −3%
since Aug 2022
7 26
Stainless steel
303 £36.96 £9.53 £63.76 +67%
since Oct 2021
6 66
304 £36.96 £9.49 £50.20 +52%
since Oct 2021
10 52
316 / 316L £37.24 £9.49 £72.00 +20%
since Mar 2021
10 57
Carbon & alloy steel
EN1A (230M07) £19.20
same since May 2024
— £25.24 +57%
since Sep 2021
5 21
Bright mild steel (080A15) £16.10
same since Apr 2024
— 1 stockist −10%
since Oct 2021
4 14
EN8 (080M40) £23.40
same since Jun 2024
£6.07 £78.63 +40%
since Oct 2021
4 26
EN16T (605M36T) £29.45
same since Dec 2023
— £97.05 +40%
since Oct 2021
4 21
EN24T (817M40T) £55.00
same since Jun 2024
£14.27 £77.55 +69%
since Oct 2021
4 20
EN36B (655M13) £65.00
same since Feb 2024
— 1 stockist +169%
since Sep 2021
1 10
EN40B (722M24T) £34.50
same since May 2024
— 1 stockist +27%
since Sep 2021
1 7
Copper & brass
Copper C101 £172.73
same since Sep 2026
£39.27 1 stockist +61%
since Dec 2023
6 24
Brass CZ121 (CW614N) £177.03 retail £42.43 1 stockist 0%
since Oct 2026
6 16
Plastics
Nylon 6 (natural) £15.40
same since May 2024
£27.52 1 stockist +37%
since Oct 2021
1 7
Nylon 66 (natural) £21.10
same since Apr 2024
— 1 stockist −17%
since May 2022
1 8
Acetal (white) £18.90
same since Dec 2023
— 1 stockist −16%
since Aug 2022
1 8

Prices are for Ø25 mm round bar, so every row compares the same section. "Sizes" is how many forms and sizes we read for the grade — open a grade for the cheapest stockist at each size, with £/kg. "Change" and the history line follow the stockist with the longest Ø25 mm record for that grade, first reading to latest. £/kg uses the densities published on our material pages and is left blank where we don't publish one.

Cost by weight, this week Ø25 mm round

Lowest price per metre ÷ the weight of 1 m of Ø25 mm bar, using the densities published on our material pages. Grades we don't publish a density for aren't shown. Small-diameter retail bar costs far more per kg than mill prices.

How the stockists compare, this week

StockistComparisonsCheapest onAverage above cheapestMost above
1st Choice Metals82 of 8+7%+14%
Aluminium Warehouse127 of 12+9%+57%
AMB Steels (Sheffield)125 of 12+17%+50%
Rapid Metals2314 of 23+18%+93%
KI Metals (Birmingham)90 of 9+42%+73%
Buy Metal Online retail110 of 11+213%+383%

28 like-for-like comparisons this week: the same grade, form and size read at two or more stockists. Nothing else is compared. A stockist can be dearer on list price and still cheaper delivered, so check delivery for your order.

What these numbers are. Online list prices for metal and plastic bar — round, flat, square and hex, in the sizes shown — per metre, ex VAT and excluding delivery, as shown on each stockist's own website on the date given. We read them automatically each week. History before September 2026 is Ø25 mm round bar only: it comes from dated Internet Archive snapshots of the same product pages, and an archived price is used only if that page also shows it is ex VAT. Other sizes start at their first weekly reading. Shops marked retail sell mainly to the public and are usually dearer than a stockholder for the same bar. These are not quotations, and an account or trade price will usually be lower. Each figure links to the page it was read from. A reading we couldn't take with certainty is left out, never estimated.

Where the prices come from

Aluminium Warehouse, AMB Steels (Sheffield), Rapid Metals, 1st Choice Metals, Buy Metal Online retail, KI Metals (Birmingham): 119 series (one grade, in one form and size, at one stockist), read every Monday at a polite pace. We only read from stockists whose website publishes prices in a form that can be read exactly and whose robots.txt allows it. Stockists that ask automated readers not to visit aren't included. A price is published only when the stockist's own page shows it is per metre and ex VAT; anything less certain is a gap. The open data has one row per reading with its grade, form, size and stockist. Know a UK stockist that should be here? Tell us.

Use the data

Free to reuse with credit to Dalloway Precision Engineering (CC BY 4.0): CSV · JSON. Each grade page also has a live price card you can embed. To cite: "UK Material Price Tracker, Dalloway Precision Engineering, dalloways.com/material-prices, read 5 Oct 2026."

Direct to the Factory Floor

Send Your Drawing for a Same-Day Quote

Talk directly to the engineers who will machine your parts — no account managers, no trading-company markups. Complimentary DFM review with every enquiry.

Call Us Get a Quote